Spot Bitcoin ETF attention as Mt Gox verifies creditor addresses, and Ethereum readies Dencun upgrade
DATA from CryptoCompare shows that the price of Bitcoin moved steadily upward throughout the last week after enduring a slight sell-off from around $41,000 to just under $39,000 at its start. The cryptocurrency is now trading at $41,915.
Ethereum’s Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, started the week with a significant sell-off from over $2,350 per token to less than $2,200, and has failed to so far recover from it, with ETH now trading at $2,270.
Headlines in the cryptocurrency space this week focused on how spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were received by investors, with data showing that Grayscale’s GBTC saw over $45 billion of outflows, while BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC led the market with $2.1 billion and $1.9 billion in inflows respectively.
Bitcoin ETFs have, over the past week, exceeded silver ETFs in the US in terms of assets under management, placing the flagship cryptocurrency behind gold when it comes to commodity ETFs.
These ETFs offering investors exposure to Bitcoin, however, saw their first net outflow over the past week as withdrawals from Grayscale’s GBTC outpaced inflows, leading the total amount held by all spot Bitcoin ETFs to drop by more than 11,000 BTC to 649,000 BTC.
The week also saw cryptocurrency asset manager Bitwise become the first spot Bitcoin ETF issuer to publicly disclose the wallet address associated with the fund, showcasing its holdings of 11,858 BTC at the time the data was shared.
The firm noted this was the “first step toward increasing public transparency” and added that it plans to provide “real-time cryptographic attestations” in the future.
As for spot Ethereum ETFs, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) postponed its verdict on BlackRock’s proposed fund just one day ahead of its original deadline over the past week, explaining that it “finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which to take action on the proposed rule change”.
Mt Gox verifies creditor addresses for BTC repayment
Former Mt Gox clients, who experienced losses in the 2014 hack involving an enormous 850,000 BTC, currently valued at a whopping $33 billion, are seemingly seeing some progress as recently some have posted on the Mt Gox insolvency subreddit group about receiving emails asking for confirmation of their identities and account information, indicating a positive move in the reimbursement process.
According to subreddit members, these emails verify that the recipients will be paid in Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash, which will be directly deposited into their previously chosen cryptocurrency exchange accounts.
The repayment process comes at a time in which researchers from JPMorgan cast doubt on the impact of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the cryptocurrency market, pointing out a potential for them to disappoint investors and “deflate the enthusiasm that has driven the cryptocurrency rally.”
Meanwhile, the estate of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has sold the majority of its stake in Grayscale’s GBTC, with Marex Capital Markets, acting on behalf of the exchange, selling two-thirds of its 22.28 million shares in just three days.
FTX declared bankruptcy in November 2022, and held assets in five Grayscale trusts and a statutory trust managed by Bitwise Investment Advisors. These were stored in accounts with ED&F Man Capital Markets (now part of Marex) and Deltec Bank and Trust Limited. Its asset sales are to pay back the creditors of the failed crypto exchange.
Ethereum developers set timeline for Dencun upgrade
Transaction costs on Ethereum are set to drop significantly with the release of the Dencun upgrade, according to developers. The release timeline for the upgrade was over the week revealed in a blog post by the Ethereum Foundation.
The upgrade will first launch on the Sepolia testnet on January 30, and then on the Holesky testnet on February 7. After successfully passing on both testnets, Dencun will be scheduled for the mainnet in March.
Ethereum’s network has been historically hampered by congestion issues that have led to hig transaction fees and transaction delays when there’s heightened network activity. Through EIP-4844, or proto-danksharding, developers aim to solve these problems by bolstering the network’s transaction throughput to as much as 100,000 per second using cheaper layer-2 solutions.
Francisco Memoria is a content creator at CryptoCompare who’s in love with technology and focuses on helping people see the value digital currencies have. His work has been published in numerous reputable industry publications. Francisco holds various cryptocurrencies.
