Author: Coindesk
Crypto equities climbed by more than 10% in pre-market trading. MicroStrategy added 12%, approaching $255, just a few percentage points away from a record that would be almost 280% higher year-to-date. Coinbase is also 12% higher, approaching $220 a share. Bitcoin miners Riot, Marathon and IREN all gained more than 10%. Other notable mentions include Metaplanet which rose 24% and is now up over 1,100% year-to date. This comes after Semler Scientific saw a 30% increase in its share price yesterday, taking the shares to $39. André Dragosch, head of research in Europe at Bitwise, told CoinDesk that the initial…
MicroStrategy (MSTR), the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, added 12%, approaching $255 and is just a few percentage points away from a record high that would represent a 280% climb this year. Crypto exchange Coinbase also gained 12% as did crypto miner Riot Platforms (RIOT). Other miners also rallied, with Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) rising 11% and IREN (IREN) 12%. Read the full article here
One of the biggest trends of 2023 among the leading layer-2 projects on Ethereum was the emergence of “blockchain in a box,” where the teams encouraged developers to clone their code to spin up new layer 2s. Now, it appears, one project in particular, Optimism, appears to be pulling away as the clear leader. Read the full article here
Over the past five years, the ratio has risen from 0.02 to a peak of above 0.08 in early 2022, meaning ETH quadrupled in value relative to BTC at the time. Since then, it’s been on decline. Even as BTC set a lifetime high, ether has yet to break through its high from 2021 and is down 46% from its peak. Read the full article here
Along with Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and the cryptocurrency industry, prediction markets are a clear winner of the U.S. election. The GOP’s surprisingly strong showing Tuesday night came as a shock to those who only got their information from mainstream media, pollsters and pundits. Read the full article here
Crypto has not been a major issue through this election cycle, though Trump, the Republican candidate for president for a third election in a row, did a great deal of outreach to the crypto industry, by speaking at a bitcoin conference, handing out burgers at a crypto bar and otherwise making statements appealing to the industry, including promising to fire Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler. Harris, the Democratic candidate, has on a handful of occasions shared some general comments about supporting the industry but did not delve deeply into her views. Read the full article here
With the aid of tens of millions the industry spent in Ohio through its Fairshake political action committee, Sherrod Brown’s long Senate career is over and a blockchain businessman, Bernie Moreno, will take his place. The loss of Brown, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, also contributed to the Republicans seizing the Senate majority, meaning Brown’s committee will have a new GOP chairman who will likely welcome crypto legislation rather than leave it in limbo, as Brown had. Read the full article here
The report said MicroStrategy is also “tied to its bitcoin holdings,” adding that there is a risk that if the company chooses to sell some of its bitcoin pile, its valuation premium could disappear. However, Michael Saylor said previously that he is not interested in selling his company’s bitcoin holding, saying, “Bitcoin is the exit strategy.” Read the full article here
“BlackRock’s BUIDL is based on Ethereum, and for what they’re trying to build, I think that’s perfectly fine,” Wald added, but any kind of projects with high-volume transactions, like real-time payments or trading, might struggle. “If we’re talking about a more sophisticated on-chain fund, or a financial platform, then there’s a real opportunity for Solana.” Read the full article here
Bitcoin (BTC) surged to $70,500 earlier during the day from around $67,000, then shed 2% in an hour to briefly drop below $69,000. It was trading at $69,000 at press time, still up more than 2% over the past 24 hours.. The broad-market CoinDesk 20 Index booked 3% gain during the same period, led by native tokens of Near (NEAR), Aptos (APT) and Hedera (HBAR) advancing 6%-7%. Read the full article here