Bitcoin Maintains $19,000 Level As Corporate Adoption Keeps Growing
This week CryptoCompare data shows the price of Bitcoin (BTC) moved from about $19,200 at the start of the week to a low slightly above $17,500 before recovering back to $19,100 at press time. The cryptocurrency has maintained this level despite a few pullbacks.
Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has similarly remained close to $600, despite enduring several pullbacks to $535, from which it recovered quickly. At press time it’s trading at around $580.
Headlines seen in the cryptocurrency space throughout the week have kept on revealing institutional investors are moving into the space. On December 10 the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), announced it made a $100 million investment in Bitcoin and bought a minority stake in institutional crypto provider NYDIG.
MassMutual is an insurance company founded 169 years ago, in 1851, that focuses on the “long-term interests” of its members and participating policy owners. According to Bloomberg, the $100 million investment in BTC represents 0.04% of the general investment account of nearly $235 billion MassMutual had as of Sept. 30. A company spokeswoman, Chealsea Haraty, was quoted as saying:
We see this initial investment as a first step, and like any investment, may explore future opportunities.
Similarly MicroStrategy, a Nasdaq-listed business intelligence firm, announced it raised $650 million through a convertible senior note sale meant to raise funds for the firm to add more bitcoin to its treasury.
The company has estimated that its net proceeds of $634.8 million will be available for BTC allocations, per its treasury reserve policy. The amount offered was boosted by $100 million from an already inflated $550 million after the investors who bought the notes exercised in full an option to buy up an added $100 million.
Notably, MicroStrategy has already invested an estimated $475 million into the flagship cryptocurrency to buy a total of 40,824 coins. These now are estimated to be worth over $777 million. The funds raised via the sale of bonds could see the firm add another 34,000 BTC to its treasury.
The aggressive BTC push has seen Citigroup analysts downgrade their recommendation for MicroStrategy stock. In a note to clients, Citigroup’s analysts wrote that “ “the issuance of new debt to fund Bitcoin purchases is aggressive and might be a deal-breaker for software investors, who may fear they now own a more risky asset management business.
Research from CryptoCompare has shown that Top-Tier cryptocurrency exchanges, defined by the firm Exchange Review, have seen their spot trading volume go up by 114% in November, with Binance managing to capture 44% of the total spot trading volume for the month.
The same report revealed derivatives trading volumes on cryptocurrency exchanges have surged 108% to a new monthly all-time high of $1.32 trillion.
The week also saw Canada’s leading digital asset manager, 3iQ Corp., complete the initial public offering of its Ether Fund, with 7.24 million Class A Units and Class F Units being sold for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $76.5 million. The fund is now trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol QETH.U.
Fidelity Digital Assets has also reportedly started letting its institutional customers pledge bitcoin as collateral against cash loans through a new partnership with blockchain startup BlockFi. Fidelity is set to hold the BTC pledged as collateral but not make the loans itself.
SEC Commissioner Urges ‘Embrace’ Of Crypto’s Freedom Principles
In a speech to the Federalist society this week, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester Peirce – often referred to as the “Crypto Mom” in the space over her pro-crypto views – has reiterated a stance that regulators should seek to embrace cryptoassets.
Peirce said the crypto space poses a challenge to regulators but added agencies “should figure out a way to embrace the personal liberty principles undergirding it,” and cautioned against excessive central planning.
In France, regulators have been pushing forward new crypto-to-crypto transaction regulations that would harden know-your-customer (KYC) rules for businesses operating in the space. Several agencies are reportedly involved in crypto discussions, and the stricter rules may be imposed over recent terrorist attacks on France.
Crypto AM: Market View in association with Ziglu
