Cryptocurrency
U.S public listed company allocates $425 million into Bitcoin
MicroStrategy CEO spoke on how the treasury asset would be kept.
MicroStrategy CEO, Michael Saylor, the leader of a U.S public traded company, has convinced the board to allocate nearly all of the company’s $425 million cash position to bitcoin.
MicroStrategy has made a number of headlines in recent times for its initial $250 million Bitcoin (BTC) investment. The company later poured a subsequent $175 million into the asset—a lengthy endeavor totaling almost 100 hours of work.
READ: BTC bounty: 69,000 Bitcoins worth $700 million waiting for you
“To acquire 16,796 BTC (disclosed 9/14/20), we traded continuously 74 hours, executing 88,617 trades ~0.19 BTC every 3 seconds,” Michael Saylor said in a tweet yesterday.
To acquire 16,796 BTC (disclosed 9/14/20), we traded continuously 74 hours, executing 88,617 trades ~0.19 BTC each 3 seconds. ~$39,414 in BTC per minute, but at all times we were ready to purchase $30-50 million in a few seconds if we got lucky with a 1-2% downward spike.
— Michael Saylor (@michael_saylor) September 18, 2020
The MicroStrategy CEO spoke on how the treasury asset would be kept. “If Bitcoin is treated as a treasury reserve asset, based on our model, 99.98% of all transactions will be off-chain, and assets-at-risk will be in cold storage 99.92% of the time.”
READ: Nigerian Treasury Bills plunge to 3.39% per annum
If #Bitcoin is treated as a treasury reserve asset, based on our model, 99.98% of all transactions will be off-chain, and assets-at-risk will be in cold storage 99.92% of the time.
— Michael Saylor (@michael_saylor) September 17, 2020
Why Microstrategy is buying Bitcoin
Recall that about a month ago, Nairametrics broke the news on MicroStrategy adopting Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset to hedge against fiat inflation. This is a big deal and it’s good to see BTCs being used as intended—a hard money/savings instrument.
READ: XRP plunges more than 10%, biggest daily percentage drop since March 12
“Our investment in Bitcoin is part of our new capital allocation strategy, which seeks to maximize long-term value for our shareholders,” said Michael Saylor.
“This investment reflects our belief that Bitcoin, as the world’s most widely-adopted cryptocurrency, is a dependable store of value and an attractive investment asset with more long-term appreciation potential than holding cash,” he added.
READ: Bitcoin could potentially become superior to cash
There’s never been a better time to buy Bitcoins than now that the government is involved in stimulus packages that are intended to pump money into the system.
Cryptocurrency
Dogecoin hits a new milestone, surges by 54%
DOGE experienced a strong 54% rally and established a new all-time high of $0.1161.
The price of Dogecoin, the fast-rising crypto popularly referred to as DOGE experienced a strong 54% rally and established a new all-time high of $0.1161 amid strong buying pressures prevalent in the Cryptoverse.
While crypto pundits can’t clearly give the rationality behind the recent surge of Dogecoin, its debut as one of the most popular crypto on social media, with top celebrities including Elon Musk and Mark Cuban giving the crypto endless support, makes a strong case.
READ: Sacramento Kings becomes first sports team to offer salary option in Bitcoin
At the time of writing this report, Dogecoin was trading at $0.113824 with a daily trading volume of $11.3 billion. Dogecoin is up 54.49% for the day.
Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban is predicting the price of Dogecoin (DOGE) will eventually hit $1, after few days of accepting the crypto as a form of payment.
Dogecoin is a type of digital coin that is decentralized and facilitates peer-to-peer digital transactions. This means you can send money online with much ease. It is usually referred to as “the internet currency.”
READ: 3 Cryptos set to explode high
It is different from BTC’s proof-of-work protocol in many ways, one of which is the Scrypt technology. The fast-growing altcoin also has a block period of 1 minute, and the total supply is unlimited, meaning that there is no limit to the amount of Dogecoin that can be mined.
“The recent rise of dogecoin, a meme coin, should serve as a reminder to everyone in the space that the most popular use case for crypto is still pure speculation,” said Anil Lulla, a former analyst at Bloomberg and co-founder of the cryptocurrency research firm, Delphi Digital.
Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin ETF in North America has reached $1 billion in assets
The first North American Bitcoin ETF has already reached $1 billion (C$1.25 billion) in assets less than two months after its launch.
According to a statement from its issuer, the first North American Bitcoin ETF has already reached $1 billion (C$1.25 billion) in assets less than two months after its launch. What exchange-traded funds did to the conventional investing market for decades could happen to cryptocurrency players in a fraction of the time.
Investors are clamoring for crypto exposure, particularly in an exchange-traded fund wrapper, and the product from Toronto-based Purpose Investments, ticker BTCC, has seen a lot of interest. Although there are many crypto funds in Europe that work similarly to ETFs, this is the first ETF anywhere.
READ: Ripple scores early legal victory, XRP breaks above $1 for first time in 3 years
More than $165 million worth of shares were traded on the fund’s first trading day in February, a big start for a fund in the much smaller Canadian ETF market.
Its rapid cash accumulation reflects the high demand for Bitcoin products in the United States, as issuers compete for approval of the first Bitcoin ETF in the nation. Despite regulator resistance to accept the tactics, at least eight companies, including VanEck Associates Corp. and WisdomTree Investments, now have live applications with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
On Tuesday, Bitcoin surged to an all-time high of about $63,246 ahead of Coinbase Global Inc.’s upcoming IPO later this week.
READ: Meet the billionaire twins who bought $10m worth of Bitcoin when it still sold for $8
There is an increasing expectation that a bitcoin ETF will be available in the United States in the not-too-distant future. Gary Gensler, the nominated chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has taught cryptocurrency classes. The bitcoin market has exploded in popularity in recent months, attracting the attention of major financial institutions. Bitcoin ETFs are once again being sought by VanEck, Fidelity, and others.
One advantage of ETFs is that shares can be readily created and redeemed to arbitrage away any discount or premium, which could greatly broaden their appeal. ETFs are also cheaper, which will put pressure on fees across the bitcoin ecosystem. Hence market sentiment may push the ETF higher.
