Cryptocurrency
U.S Government makes a premium selling Bitcoin
The two-day auction event of about 0.7501 bitcoins began at the start of the week and ended on Wednesday.
The U.S government through its agency, the General Services Administration (GSA), known for auctioning government properties has expanded its portfolio to Bitcoin as reported by The Washington Post.
The two-day auction event of about 0.7501 bitcoins began at the start of the week and ended on Wednesday. Upon the closure of the auction event, the successful bidder won with an offer of $53,104. Still, the seller had to pay real-time has price higher than the quote meaning that the winner had to pay a premium for his purchase through the government.
READ: Morgan Stanley becomes first major U.S Bank offering clients Bitcoin
“Auctioning off this share of cryptocurrency broke new ground for our GSA Auctions platform, and we’re extremely pleased by the enthusiasm we’ve seen from our bidders,” said Acting Regional Administrator Kevin Kerns with GSA’s Southeast Sunbelt Region, in a statement to The Washington Post.
It’s important to note the U.S Federal government, currently has about is 70,124 bitcoin worth about $4 billion, as its crypto holdings are held in various departments of the United States Government primarily acquired through asset forfeitures in legal cases.
READ: Bitcoin loses $7,000, pigs on rampage
Recall some months ago, the U.S. Justice Department released a statement, which disclosed that it seized over $1 billion worth of bitcoin associated with a shady online marketplace – Silk Road.
Thousands of BTCs worth $1 billion were seized by the United States law enforcement agencies in what the Justice Department disclosed was the largest seizure of cryptocurrency in the history of the agency.
- The U.S. enforcement agencies were able to make such a seizure through a unit within the Internal Revenue Service that specializes in tracking virtual currency transactions prevalent when using cryptos.
- The Internal Revenue Service agents were able to identify 54 new bitcoin transactions executed on the shady platform.
Cryptocurrency
Ripple’s CTO advises investors to reduce their crypto investments
The crypto leader recently made the warning on Twitter.
David Schwartz, Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer has advised investors and crypto traders to consider offloading some amounts of their crypto holdings to reduce risk. The crypto leader recently made the warning on Twitter.
“This is probably going to be my least popular tweet ever, but: If you have life-changing amounts of cryptocurrency, please take some time to seriously consider selling some to reduce your risk and exposure. This is not any kind of prediction about what the market will do,” his tweet stated.
READ: Billionaire investors in Nigeria you may not know
This is probably going to be my least popular tweet ever, but: If you have life-changing amounts of cryptocurrency, please take some time to seriously consider selling some to reduce your risk and exposure. This is not any kind of prediction about what the market will do.
— 𝘋𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘥 "𝘑𝘰𝘦𝘭𝘒𝘢𝘵𝘻" 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘻 (@JoelKatz) April 13, 2021
To lend credence to his advice, about $1.39 billion dollars were liquidated in the crypto market arbitrarily with about 240,759 traders liquidated.
The largest single liquidation order happened on Huobi-XRP valued at $11.69 million.
Despite the recent pullback in some trending crypto assets, some crypto traders remain upbeat that crypto assets are the best tools for hedging against rising inflation, offer better returns than many traditional assets, and are set to win more attention from the corporate world.
READ: US moves against misuse of cryptocurrencies, to employ new financial technologies
Many weeks ago, the Financial Conduct Authority, a leading United Kingdom financial regulator, issued a piece of stern advice on the risk associated with trading crypto assets.
The statement highlighted the risks associated with investing in Bitcoin and other crypto-assets and warned the public that there were high chances that all their funds could be lost.
READ: List of unpopular Cryptos likely to outperform
“The FCA is aware that some firms are offering investments in crypto assets or lending or investments linked to crypto assets, that promise high returns.
Investing in crypto assets, or investments and lending linked to them generally involves taking very high risks with investors’ money. If consumers invest in these types of products, they should be prepared to lose all their money,” said the FCA.
Cryptocurrency
Coinbase success: Rapper Nas among early investors, set to make over $100 million
Nasir Jones is amongst the earliest investors in Coinbase via his Queensbridge Venture.
The trending news in the cryptoverse is the successful direct listing of Coinbase on the NASDAQ, which happened on Wednesday, 14th April 2021. So far, the returns are looking very good for early investors in the crypto trading company.
According to CNBC, Coinbase closed its first day in NASDAQ at a value of $328.28 per share and a valuation of $85.8 billion. During the course of the day, Coinbase valuation exceeded $100bn but later dropped to $85.8bn.
READ: Coinbase executes over $1 billion Crypto trades for world’s biggest clients
Rapper Nas and QueensBridge Venture Partners
Legendary rapper, Nasir Jones who owns and runs Queensbridge Venture Partners together with its Co-Founder Anthony Saleh were amongst the earliest investors in Coinbase.
QueensBridge Venture Partners invested in Coinbase as early as 2013 in a Series B round back when it raised $25 million. Around that time, Coinbase was valued at about $143 million. According to QueensBridge Co-Founder, the venture capital firm made an investment of $100,000 to $500,000.
READ: Coinbase makes debut on Nasdaq as Bitcoin, Ethereum XRP post all-time highs
Calculated ROI
According to Coindesk, at the time of Nas’ investment, a single unit of Coinbase share sold for $1.00676. With an investment of $100,000 to $500,000 QueensBridge stands to own 99,329 to 496,642 unit shares.
With Coinbase trading at an average price of $350 yesterday, Nas and his VC firm stand to earn between $34.76 million and $173.8 million ROI, according to Coindesk. The number can be a lot higher given that this is just Coinbase’s first day on NASDAQ and some experts expect its price to increase.
READ: Google founders earn $42 billion in 100 days
Happy Nas
Nas celebrated his smart investment with a tweet eulogizing cryptocurrency. His VC firm also invested in Robinhood and Dropbox.
What you should know
- Coinbase was listed directly. This is quite different from an initial public offering (IPO). According to Investopedia the difference between an IPO and a direct listing process is the presence and absence of new shares.
- In an IPO, the company involved creates new shares and employs underwriters before going public.
- In a direct listing only existing or outstanding shares are made public. Companies that pursue this strategy usually don’t employ underwriters.
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