Here are top crypto news of the day curated by CoinChapter
SEC Puts Brakes on Ethereum ETF and NYSE Bitcoin Options
According to top cryptocurrency ETF issuers, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is not expected to approve a spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the near future.
Companies like BlackRock, Fidelity, and VanEck have already launched spot Bitcoin ETFs. These firms say that Ethereum’s regulatory status is less clear than Bitcoin’s, making it harder for an Ethereum ETF to gain SEC approval.
VanEck CEO Jan van Eck stated that his firm, along with Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest, are likely to have their Ethereum ETF applications rejected when the SEC reviews them in May. The SEC has until late May to decide on VanEck’s Ethereum ETF filing. Besides, other applicants will have to wait in line until October.
Meanwhile, the SEC has also postponed its decision on allowing options trading on spot Bitcoin ETFs listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The SEC has extended the deadline for its decision by 45 days to May 29, 2024. This delay affects options trading on ETFs like the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF and the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.
Grayscale’s CEO, Michael Sonnenshein, has urged the SEC to approve the proposed rule change. He argued that since SEC has already approved Bitcoin futures and spot ETFs, there is no rationale to reject options trading on these products.
Amid the hopes for Ethereum ETF approval and the SEC’s decision on spot Bitcoin ETFs listing on the NYSE, Crypto traders are placing bullish bets on Bitcoin. They expect it to surge to a new high of $100,000 by the end of 2024, according to trading firm Wintermute.
Some traders even bet that Bitcoin will reach new highs as soon as the end of April 2024. Additionally, they predict that options contracts’ selling prices will range between $74,000 and $80,000.
Metaplanet rockets 90%, while Arthur Hayes Remains bearish on halving
Metaplanet, an investment firm trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, has announced the adoption of Bitcoin as its “core treasury reserve asset.” The company has already deployed 1 billion JPY (around $6.56 million) into Bitcoin. This figure represents nearly half of its total market capitalization.
Following the announcement, Metaplanet’s stock price jumped by 90%. It went from 19 JPY at Monday’s close to 36 JPY at Tuesday’s close. The trading volume also spiked significantly, with 69 million shares traded on the day compared to its average of 928,000 shares.
The move has drawn comparisons to business intelligence firm MicroStrategy. MicroStrategy’s stock has risen nearly 1,000% since it adopted Bitcoin as its primary asset in 2020. Metaplanet’s CEO, Simon Gerovich, has been likened to “Asia’s first MicroStrategy” by industry figures.
Meanwhile, Crypto analyst and BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes believes that the upcoming Bitcoin halving event may not trigger the typical post-halving price pump that most traders expect.
Instead of a rally, Hayes expects Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices to slump around the halving. He has already sold some of his positions in assets like Solana (SOL) and meme coin cat in a dogs world (MEW). Additionally, he has parked the proceeds in the Ethena USDe stablecoin protocol to earn yield.
Hayes said he will be in a “no-trade zone” until May 1st. Instead, he would wait for the market to stabilize before deploying his “dry powder” to position himself for the “bull market to begin in earnest.”
Tether’s $500M Bitcoin Mining Push Nears Completion
Tether is nearing completion of a $500 million investment to build Bitcoin mining facilities and renewable energy stations in several South American countries. This move aims to decentralize the Bitcoin mining industry, which has become concentrated in the United States after China banned the activity in 2021.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said that the investment has financed projects in Uruguay, Paraguay, and El Salvador. The firm focuses on developing renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and geothermal power to fuel the mining rigs.
The timing of Tether’s mining push comes just weeks before the Bitcoin halving event, scheduled for around April 20, 2024. During the halving event, the block reward for miners will be cut in half, from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block.
Amid this looming change, major public mining companies have been accumulating significant Bitcoin holdings on their balance sheets. Firms like Marathon Digital, Hut 8, and Riot Platforms are hoarding BTC. They aim to have ample liquidity to capitalize on potential opportunities, such as acquiring distressed mining assets.
Smaller mining companies, including Terawulf, Bitdeer, and Hive Digital Technologies, have also added to their Bitcoin stockpiles.
Toncoin Hits Record High While OpenSea Embraces GUNZ on Avalanche
There’s a new entrant in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, and it’s come at the expense of Cardano. Toncoin (TON), the token of The Open Network, has surged to become the 10th most valuable cryptocurrency in the world.
TON jumped 12% over the last day to a current price of $6.79. The token’s price is up 34% over the last seven days and 132% in the past month. The token even hit a new all-time high price of $7.06 earlier on Tuesday.
With a market cap of over $23 billion, TON has now flipped Cardano (ADA). Cardano fell to 11th place at just over $21 billion. It is down 2.1% on the day, currently trading at around $0.60.
The Open Network was originally founded in 2018 as the Telegram Open Network. However, the project was abandoned after regulatory scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Community developers have continued to build out the network, and Telegram has gradually embraced it again in recent months.
Parallelly, the NFT marketplace OpenSea has announced the integration of the GUNZ blockchain platform built on an Avalanche subnet. This move will allow players to trade in-game items from any game created on the GUNZ blockchain.
The integration comes from a partnership with Gunzilla Games, the studio behind the upcoming first-person battle royale shooter “Off the Grid.”
The integration follows Gunzilla Games’ recent $30 million funding round, which included investments from CoinFund, the Avalanche Foundation’s Blizzard Fund, and other prominent crypto firms. Off the Grid is expected to launch later this year across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox platforms.
EigenLayer Launches on Mainnet While ‘Space Nation Online’ Game Announced Airdrop
EigenLayer, a “restaking” service for Ethereum, has officially launched on the blockchain’s mainnet. The launch comes alongside the release of EigenDA, a data-availability (DA) service from the team behind EigenLayer.
EigenDA is built by Eigen Labs as a way to help other blockchain protocols store transaction data and other information. It will compete with similar protocols, like Celestia, that have become critical pieces of blockchain infrastructure.
Initial mainnet launch will have a restricted feature set. Eigen Labs CEO Sreeram Kannan referred to it as a “beta” version. Notably, the launch does not include in-protocol payments from AVSs to operators, nor the slashing mechanism to keep AVS operators honest. Eigen Labs said these features will be introduced to mainnet later this year as the “EigenLayer marketplace” develops and stabilizes.
Meanwhile, Space Nation Online, an Ethereum-based sci-fi MMORPG built on the Immutable zkEVM scaling network, has announced a 10-week airdrop rewards event while the game is in closed beta.
Starting on Monday, players who hold certain Space Nation NFTs became eligible to receive “OIK shards” (effectively airdrop points) for the game. Each day at 9:05 UTC, a snapshot of NFT holders will be taken, and those players will receive their OIK shards, which can be converted to OIK tokens at a 10:1 ratio.
During the “Cosmorathon” event, up to 10 million OIK tokens will be distributed until the event finishes on the morning of June 16th. The amount of shards earned will depend on the specific NFT held. Alpha Gate NFT will earn 539.572 OIK shards per day, and the Prime Navigator NFT will earn 289.715 OIK shards per day.
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