Blockchain
Bitcoin: Why you should be on your toes on 15 January

With Bitcoin rising up the valuation ladder in 2021, there has been aggressive demand for stablecoins since the first of January. In fact, the collective market cap of all stablecoins, at the time of writing, amounted to ~$33.5 billion, after the supply added $4 billion in the past 12 days alone.
CoinMetrics‘ data suggested that Tether was responsible for the issuance of over $2 billion of the supply, with USDC supply adding another $500 million worth of assets. With the stablecoin supply going under the radar amidst Bitcoin’s bull rally, there might be more to it under the market’s surface.
Institutions or Tether: Who is dictating the market?
Over the past few weeks, the most common narrative circling the crypto-sphere has been that institutions are currently accumulating Bitcoin, something that is fueling the bull rally. Now, there is a definite logic behind this since accredited investors are holding Bitcoin for the long-term. However, institutions might not be the sole, or even the most important driving factors, behind Bitcoin’s price rally. Instead, Tether might be more involved in the proceedings than previously expected.
In order to understand Tether’s possible role in the present rally, we compared two sets of metrics – Trading volumes towards the tail-end of 2017’s bull run and Trading volumes at press time.

2018 Trading Volumes | Source: Coinlib
Back in 2018, the U.S dollar and the Japanese Yen were responsible for over $2 billion in trading volume, at a time when Bitcoin dropped down to $8,100 on the charts. At the time, Tether had a share of $795 million over the same period. Now, since institutional investors were not exactly present in 2018, we estimated that 2021 would include higher USD volumes. However, that hasn’t been the case.

2021 Trading Volumes | Source: Coinlib
At press time, as highlighted by the attached chart, USD was responsible for only $1.25 billion of the trading volume, whereas USDT constituted a massive $6.88 billion of all Bitcoin transactions.
Consider this – Institutions will not access Bitcoin via Tether because their purchases are mostly from OTC desks and not centralized exchanges. Here, it is safe to say that institutions would only access Bitcoin via fiat dollar, and not stablecoins.
Therefore, if institutions were the main catalyst of the bull market, USD trading volumes should have been closer to Tether volumes, if not greater.
Now, considering the possibility that Tether might be running the show, the importance of 15 January should be the focus of Bitcoin investors.
15 January NYAG Tether Deadline: Will Bitcoin react?
The infamous Tether-Bitfinex episode has been going on for quite a while now. The case was opened in April 2019, but we could be edging towards a major development on the 15th of January, 2021.
According to the last announcement by the New York Attorney General or NYAG, Tether is supposed to complete the handover of loan documents related to the alleged $850 million cover-up between Tether and Bitfinex. 15th January is the reported deadline, and the cookie might begin to crumble from here on.
While Tether has been on a printing spree of its own during this rally, the SEC had released a statement last year on the topic of stablecoins. One of its excerpts said,
“Whether a particular digital asset, including one labeled a stablecoin, is a security under the federal securities laws is inherently a facts and circumstances determination. This determination requires a careful analysis of the nature of the instrument, including the rights it purports to convey, and how it is offered and sold.”
Speculations have suggested that the NYAG is possibly trying to push Tether in the direction of unregistered securities, in their dealings with USDT. If so, this particular situation may have massive implications for Bitcoin.
Should investors be worried on 15 January?
Aware is a better word.
While 15 January may or may not fuel a correction for Bitcoin, any developments associated with Tether should be monitored in order to track market alterations. Irrespective of popular market narratives, Tether has a major say in Bitcoin’s value and any negative connotations with respect to USDT are bound to affect Bitcoin. The only question here, however, is what the timeline will be.
Source: https://ambcrypto.com/bitcoin-why-you-should-be-on-your-toes-on-15-january
Blockchain
OpenSea Crashes Following BossLogic NFT Drop via Ethernity


The hype around non-fungible tokens (NFTs) continues to escalate as demand for primary sales is only growing higher.
The last manifestation of this was earlier during the BossLogic NFT drop that took place on the OpenSea marketplace, causing it to essentially crash under the high traffic.
OpenSea Crashes as Traffic Surges
OpenSea, touted as the largest NFT marketplace crashed last night under a serious surge in traffic caused by an NFT drop.
The platform took it to Twitter to explain what happened:
Outage notice: the Bosslogic drop caused a 2X surge in traffic at 19:30 UTC, ultimately causing two spikes of failed requests, at 19:50 and 20:40.
The issue was our servers’ ability to reclaim memory. We will have a fix out shortly, but sincerely apologize to all affected!
Naturally, this caused some users to be upset because they’d lost gas fees as a result of the outage. The team responded that they “will not have to pay gas the next time you bid, for the next auction – that cost is only for the first time you ever bid on anything (converting ETH to wrapped ETH).”
BossLogic’s NFT Drop
BossLogic is a well-known artist with almost half a million followers on Twitter and a lot more across different social media platforms.
His latest NFT drop was through a partnership with Ethernity chain to offer 2501 pieces of art to the very first lucky community members.
The tokens were sold for 0.299 ETH and each one of them represented digital artwork that’s featured in the collection.
This latest NFT drop is the latest to create massive hype around it. As CryptoPotato reported yesterday, the interest surrounding non-fungible tokens have surpassed that of ICOs from back during their peak in early 2018. This has caused many people to believe that they are in a state of a bubble.
Featured image courtesy of Inverse
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Source: https://cryptopotato.com/opensea-crashes-following-bosslogic-nft-drop-via-ethernity/
Blockchain
Norwegian Oil Mogul Sets Up $58 Million Entity to Buy Bitcoin


The institutional bitcoin frenzy continues to spread like an epidemic. After several United States mega corporations added the digital currency to their balance sheet, the floodgates have been opened to major institutions across the world. Norwegian holding company Aker ASA said today that it will establish a new unit dedicated to bitcoin investment and the digital asset’s underlying technology.
Miss Out? “No Way”!
Asian smartphone giants, Meitu yesterday joined the league of institutional bitcoin adopters, as reported by CryptoPotato. With the future of modern-day finance hanging in the balance, companies investing reserve cash in bitcoin is widely becoming a norm rather than an exception. The latest to embrace bitcoin is Norwegian holdings, Aker ASA. It made the announcement in a press release this morning.
Aker ASA is going a step beyond investing in the leading digital currency. It will set up a company devoted to investing in bitcoin and blockchain technology. The new company called “Setee AS” will actively participate in the cryptocurrency space by collaborating with other industry players. It will also invest in other companies with healthy prospects in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry.
The company which majors in offshore fishing, construction, and engineering said it would convert all its liquid assets to bitcoin. The new dedicated bitcoin unit will have a capital of around 500 million Norwegian crowns (approximately $58.6 million).
.. With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
According to Aker, the operation of the new entity will span beyond bitcoin investment. The unit is expected to leverage the capabilities of its parent organization to pursue innovations in cybersecurity, financial transactions, and emissions-free verification operations. As part of the latter, the company will research and work on alternative ways to verify bitcoin transactions in a more environmentally friendly manner.
To set the ball rolling, Setee is collaborating with a Canadian global leader in Bitcoin and blockchain technologies, Blockstream. President and CEO of Aker ASA, Øyvind Eriksen, spoke on the launch of Setee and its first partnership.
“With the launch of Seetee, the Aker Group makes another move into software and fintech. We are very excited about the industrial opportunities that will be unlocked by Bitcoin and blockchain technology, and want to contribute forcefully to that effort. These technologies have the potential to reduce frictions in our day to day lives, enhance the security of our digitally driven economies, and unlock new business models for innovation. We look forward to addressing these and other applications together with Blockstream and other partners”
Aker AS is owned by Norwegian billionaire businessman Kjell Inge Rokke. Rokke shared a letter concerning the latest development to the company’s stakeholders. In the letter, he wrote:
First, we will use bitcoin as our treasury asset and join the community. In Bitcoin speak, we will be hodlers. We will be different, but additive.
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Source: https://cryptopotato.com/norwegian-oil-mogul-sets-up-58-million-entity-to-buy-bitcoin/
Blockchain
ETC Group adds Ethereum ETP on Deutsche Borse

Exchange-Traded Products [ETPs] are gaining prominence and crypto investment firm ETC Group announced the launch of an Ethereum ETP on Deutsche Borse’s Xetra on 9 March. This ETP will go live with the ZET ticker and will be its second crypto investment product after Bitcoin ETP, as per reports.
The firm launched Bitcoin ETP in June 2020 and its assets under management have surged to $1 billion since. Since ETP’s value depended on the underlying security, this growth was a given for Bitcoin. Now that Ethereum has also joined the bandwagon, the results of its growth will also reflect positively for the investment firm.
Xetra, operated by the Frankfurt stock exchange, noted that more than 90% of trading in German shares goes through the marketplace, along with 30% of trading in exchange-traded funds [ETFs]. As per its website, more than 30 new ETFs and 4 ETCs are tradeable on Xetra since January.
However, ETC Group was not the only one listing ETPs on Deutsche Borse. 21Shares AG also announced the launch of the world’s first centrally cleared Ethereum [ETH] and Bitcoin Cash [BCH] ETPs a few days back.
According to reports, this was done to further push the institutionalization of crypto assets. Subject to approval by the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the 21Shares Ethereum ETP [21XE] and 21Shares Bitcoin Cash ETP [21XC] will list on Deutsche Boerse on 9 March, with annual management fees of 1.49% and 2.50%, respectively.
The institutional interest has been increasing for Ethereum ever since the market has been rallying. The second-largest crypto and the most popular altcoin, Ethereum has managed to carve a niche for itself with the addition of decentralized finance [DeFi] and dApps.

Source: CoinStats
At the time of writing, ETH was going strong at $1,713, despite the high volatility in the market. It is returning 142% year-to-date to its investors as more people flock into the Ethereum ecosystem.
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Source: https://ambcrypto.com/etc-group-adds-ethereum-etp-on-deutsche-borse
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