Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, has begun investing in bitcoin. Having previously called the cryptocurrency “garbage,” he has now changed his mind and believes that cryptocurrencies are here to stay. He is also getting used to the volatility of bitcoin and believes that institutional investors are willing to hold through price fluctuations.

Kevin O’Leary Now a Bitcoin Believer

Canadian investor and television personality Kevin O’Leary has changed his mind about bitcoin. He previously called the cryptocurrency “garbage” and a “giant nothing burger,” but now he has invested in bitcoin and thinks that it is no longer a fad.

“I actually think that digital currencies are here to stay,” he said in an interview with CNBC last week. “Most people that are willing to hold them, including institutions over the last 90 days, are willing to deal with the volatility.” O’Leary elaborated:

I am fascinated. I’m investing. I’m holding a 3% weighting in it between ethereum and bitcoin. The volatility sickens me but I’m getting used to it.

“And, finally, I’m starting to think about how do I invest in the infrastructure of mining bitcoin,” Mr. Wonderful added.

Commenting on bitcoin’s volatility, O’Leary shared: “Given the volatility of cryptocurrencies, the main decision you have to make after you decide to participate in the first place is what % of your portfolio do you allocate. For me, 5% is the maximum.”

if (!window.GrowJs) { (function () { var s = document.createElement('script'); s.async = true; s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = 'https://bitcoinads.growadvertising.com/adserve/app'; var n = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; n.parentNode.insertBefore(s, n); }()); } var GrowJs = GrowJs || {}; GrowJs.ads = GrowJs.ads || []; GrowJs.ads.push({ node: document.currentScript.parentElement, handler: function (node) { var banner = GrowJs.createBanner(node, 31, [300, 250], null, []); GrowJs.showBanner(banner.index); } });

Morgan Creek Digital partner Anthony Pompliano, who had been trying to convince O’Leary to invest in BTC for years, responded to the Shark Tank star’s 5% allocation statement. “You forbid me to have 50% and you called it all ‘garbage,’ but now you think 5% is acceptable. Eventually, you will be 50% yourself.”

O’Leary replied, “Correct, I change when facts change.” He emphasized:

Canadian, Swiss and many other regulators have done a 180% on BTC. This is a game changer for many investors including me.

O’Leary had always been worried about regulators coming down hard on bitcoin. In December, he warned that “Grown men are going to weep when that happens. You will never see a loss of capital like that ever in your life. It will be brutal.” Nonetheless, he said that if a bitcoin ETF is approved, he would be willing to put 5% of his portfolio in it. Recently, Canada’s securities regulator approved two bitcoin ETFs.

Do you think Kevin O’Leary will keep putting more money in bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.

Source: Bitcoin.com
Original Post: Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary Reverses Stance on Bitcoin, Says Crypto Is Here to Stay, Invests 3% of His Portfolio

Asset management firm Stone Ridge has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its open-end mutual fund to invest in bitcoin. “This is a big deal. Stone Ridge filing opens the door for every mutual fund to add bitcoin,” said a fellow asset manager.

Stone Ridge Wants Its Mutual Fund to Invest in Bitcoin

Stone Ridge Trust filed Form N-1A with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week. The filing, which is expected to become effective on April 26, relates to the Stone Ridge Diversified Alternatives Fund.

The fund “seeks to generate total returns from diverse investment strategies that we believe have the potential for attractive returns and are diversifying from stocks and bonds,” the filing details. “These strategies include reinsurance, market risk transfer, style premium investing, alternative lending, single-family real estate, healthcare royalties, and bitcoin.”

For the bitcoin investment strategy, the filing explains:

[The fund] seeks to generate returns by gaining exposure to the price of bitcoin by selling put options on bitcoin futures contracts. This strategy may also invest in pooled investment vehicles, such as registered or private funds, that themselves invest in bitcoin.

if (!window.GrowJs) { (function () { var s = document.createElement('script'); s.async = true; s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = 'https://bitcoinads.growadvertising.com/adserve/app'; var n = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; n.parentNode.insertBefore(s, n); }()); } var GrowJs = GrowJs || {}; GrowJs.ads = GrowJs.ads || []; GrowJs.ads.push({ node: document.currentScript.parentElement, handler: function (node) { var banner = GrowJs.createBanner(node, 31, [300, 250], null, []); GrowJs.showBanner(banner.index); } });

Anthony Scaramucci, founder of another asset management firm Skybridge Capital, which itself has about half a billion dollars worth of bitcoin in its bitcoin fund, commented on the filing last week. “Important development in bitcoin. Stone Ridge filed with the SEC to become the first open-ended mutual fund to buy bitcoin,” he wrote. Scaramucci also sees heavy demand for bitcoin from his clients and expects the BTC price to reach $100K by year-end.

Noting that “Stone Ridge will be able to start buying bitcoin on April 26 (when their prospectus goes effective),” he opined:

This is a big deal. Stone Ridge filing opens the door for every mutual fund to add bitcoin (if they want to).

Stone Ridge founder Ross Stevens also founded the New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), a bitcoin-only financial services firm. Early this month, the firm filed for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the SEC. Stevens recently said that he sees “a wall of money” coming into the asset class. NYDIG already has over $6 billion in bitcoin and the firm expects to have over $25 billion in the cryptocurrency by the end of the year.

What do you think about mutual funds investing in bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.

Source: Bitcoin.com
Original Post: Stone Ridge’s Open-End Mutual Fund to Invest in Bitcoin — SEC Filing Opens the Door for Other Mutual Funds to Add BTC

Digital currency markets have been bearish in recent days as prices have continued to sink lower. The entire market capitalization of all the crypto assets in existence is down over 8% on Sunday at $1.25 trillion. Bitcoin has plummeted from its all-time high (ATH) of $58,350 last Sunday to today’s low of $43,189 per unit.

• Bitcoin (BTC) prices have dropped -25.98% since last Sunday and today the crypto asset has touched a new low. At 10:48 in the morning, New York time, BTC prices touched a low of $43,189 per coin. BTC is down over 7% today but is still up 28% during the last 30 days and 122% for the last three months.
• BTC dominance or the market valuation in comparison to the rest of the crypto economy’s valuations is around 61.23% today.

• The second-largest crypto asset by market valuation is ethereum (ETH) which is swapping for $1,318 per coin on Sunday. ETH prices have dipped over 10% today and lost 31% during the last week.
• Cardano (ADA) currently commands the third-largest market cap, and each ADA is exchanging hands for $1.20 per unit. ADA has been a coin that has notably outperformed other crypto assets during the last two days while most markets have been down. ADA is down 12% today but seven-day stats show cardano is up over 10%.
• Cardano (ADA) is expected to upgrade on March 1, 2021, which introduces native token functionality to the Cardano network.
• Meanwhile, tether (USDT) now holds the fourth position and behind it is binance coin (BNB) trading for $197 per coin. The Binance-created token is down 11% on Sunday and 31% for the last week. Behind BNB is polkadot (DOT) trading for a touch over $30 per DOT.

• XRP has been pushed down to the seventh position and is down 10% today. Each XRP is trading for $0.39 per unit. Litecoin (LTC) is swapping for $155 a coin and is down a touch over 9% this weekend.

if (!window.GrowJs) { (function () { var s = document.createElement('script'); s.async = true; s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = 'https://bitcoinads.growadvertising.com/adserve/app'; var n = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; n.parentNode.insertBefore(s, n); }()); } var GrowJs = GrowJs || {}; GrowJs.ads = GrowJs.ads || []; GrowJs.ads.push({ node: document.currentScript.parentElement, handler: function (node) { var banner = GrowJs.createBanner(node, 31, [300, 250], null, []); GrowJs.showBanner(banner.index); } });

• The stablecoin USDC that’s managed by the crypto firm Circle has made it into the top ten crypto market cap positions. Currently, USDC is the eighth largest market valuation with $8.97 billion worth in circulation.
• Lastly, stellar (XLM) holds the tenth top position amongst the 8,000+ crypto tokens in existence. A single XLM is currently trading for $0.39 per unit and interestingly, is roughly the same value as XRP, as the Stellar network blockchain was designed in a similar fashion.

Want to check out all the crypto asset prices and market movements in real-time? Check out markets.Bitcoin.com today!

What do you think about all the market action on Sunday, February 28? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Source: Bitcoin.com
Original Post: Bearish Outlook as Bitcoin’s Seven-Day Average Sinks 25%, ADA Shines During the Storm

On Saturday, February 27, 2021, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the great number of 2010 and 2011 block rewards being spent this year. In that report, it was said that the mysterious whale entity we’ve been hunting “did not move a major string of bitcoin’s” since January 25. Following the publishing of that study, on Sunday, the old-school whale miner moved another 20 block rewards from 2010, as 1,000 bitcoins that sat idle for well over a decade were spent.

9,000 Decade-Old Bitcoins Spent Since March 11, 2020

Since mid-March, news.Bitcoin.com has been on the trail for an old-school bitcoin (BTC) miner that has been spending large strings of 2010 block rewards. A block reward is an incentive a bitcoin miner gets for finding a block on the Bitcoin blockchain and before 2012, all rewards were 50 BTC per block. Further, the technical term “spend” or “spent,” simply means the owner moved the coins, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the bitcoins were “sold” to another owner.

Our report on Saturday, had shown that there were 80 block rewards from 2010 that were spent this year. Interestingly, 40 block rewards from the 2011 days also got spent in 2021 as well. On Sunday, February 28, 2021, following our last report, the whale miner once again spent another 20 block rewards from 2010 at block height 672,501. It’s assumed the mystery miner is seeking attention.

Our last study also mentioned the mega-whale or group of whales that have been spending these 2010 blocks in strings of 20 blocks per transfer since mid-March. Our team alongside researchers from Btcparser.com and the Russian blockchain researcher, Issak Shvarts, have discovered a total of 9 spending strings from 2010.

All of the strings use the same exact pattern of spending in concessions of 20 consecutive decade-old blocks. 20 block reward string spends from 2010 happened on March 11, 2020, October 11, November 7, November 8, December 27, January 3, 2021 (Bitcoin’s anniversary), January 10, January 25, and today (Sunday, February 28, 2021) as well.

That’s a total of 180 block rewards and each and every one of them contained 50 BTC per block. The person(s) always consolidates the bitcoins into a single BTC address and then the coins are dispersed thereafter in fractions. Usually, all the strings of spent blocks stem from July 2010 up until November 2010, and the coinbase dates are always the same months.

The block explorer oxt.me also shows the 2010 whale’s pattern of spending habits are always the same. One researcher discussing the subject with our newsdesk yesterday said: “Maybe they have some special application, a script, which is not really flexible and may get only 20 private keys at a time, but a list of receiving addresses.”

if (!window.GrowJs) { (function () { var s = document.createElement('script'); s.async = true; s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = 'https://bitcoinads.growadvertising.com/adserve/app'; var n = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; n.parentNode.insertBefore(s, n); }()); } var GrowJs = GrowJs || {}; GrowJs.ads = GrowJs.ads || []; GrowJs.ads.push({ node: document.currentScript.parentElement, handler: function (node) { var banner = GrowJs.createBanner(node, 31, [300, 250], null, []); GrowJs.showBanner(banner.index); } });

Either Spending Solutions Are Not Flexible or the Whale Is Flexing and Wants Attention

Blockchair’s privacy-o-meter shows the mystery miner’s first spends are always susceptible to heuristics and transaction tracing tools. The 2010 string spends always have a “rare fingerprint,” “co-spending,” “same address in inputs,” and “sweep” techniques.

After the first consolidation, the transactions ‘go dark’ from here, and privacy is increased from 0 to 100 points according to Blockchair stats. Issak Shvarts believes that numerous 2010 strings that have followed this exact same spending pattern have likely been sold to the San Francisco-based exchange Coinbase.

Moreover, except for the one specific mid-March 2020 decade-old string spend, the mysterious miner or miners always spend the corresponding bitcoin cash (BCH) as well. Furthermore, the mining entity never moves the corresponding bitcoinsv (BSV), except for the one time on March 11.

Whatever the case may be, the old-school whale or whales spending the strings of 2010 block rewards seem to want attention. Unless the whale is forced to use a non-flexible spending script or weird spending habit, our deduction so far is that the whale is a show-off and definitely wants the public’s attention.

It is quite a coincidence that after our newsdesk writes: “So far, this particular entity or entities have not moved a major string of bitcoins since then” yesterday, and then the whale spends another string of 20 block rewards from 2010 (1,000 BTC). We also know on October 11, the entity or entities did send 9.99999943 BTC ($114k worth at the time) to the Free Software Foundation and another 9.999 BTC to the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER).

The whale has spent roughly 180 decade-old block rewards to-date, adding up to approximately 9,000 BTC. That’s over $400 million worth of bitcoin using exchange rates on Sunday, February 28, 2021.

What do you think about the 9,000 bitcoins from 2010 spent since March 11, 2020? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Source: Bitcoin.com
Original Post: 20 Bitcoin Block Rewards from 2010 Moved Today, Mystery Miner Spent 0 Million in BTC Since Black Thursday

Recently, Messari Crypto Researcher, Mira Christanto published a report that looks into Asia’s cryptocurrency landscape in-depth, as 60% of the world’s population resides in the region. Christanto’s study shows that six out of the top ten largest cryptocurrency unicorns are located in Asia. Moreover, 98% of ethereum-based futures and 94% of bitcoin futures volumes stem from Asia.

Asia’s Financial Landscape Is Ripe for Disruption

When it comes to cryptocurrencies, Asia accounts for a huge number of crypto users, companies, miners, traders, and more. The cryptocurrency and blockchain researcher from messari.io, Mira Christanto, explains that Asia has a “history of dictators, currency depreciation, [and] capital controls – all ripe for disruption.” This has likely led to Asia being the most active cryptocurrency markets, according to Christanto’s recent findings.

Her recently published study called “Asia’s Crypto Landscape” covers the “key exchanges, funds, and market makers that define crypto in China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Southeast Asia, with commentary on regulatory and investment trends.” Countries like China, Japan, Hong Kong, India, South Korea, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and more are covered in the 98-page study.

“Leading crypto countries, such as China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore, have deep pools of liquidity, while other countries have a great potential to scale,” Christanto’s report says. “The nature of traditional finance has played a key role in the adoption of crypto: capital controls pushed investors towards cryptocurrencies in China and South Korea while low-yields pushed adoption in Japan,” she added.

“By the end of 2019, six of the top ten largest crypto firms in the world were located in Asia,” Christanto’s data further shows. “As of January 12, 2021, of the top 20 token projects with headquarters, 42% of the market capitalization is based in Asia. Asia has an outsize role in the crypto markets due to a variety of reasons.”

Christanto’s report continues:

Each country has its own nuances, but factors include high penetration of public market investing, high-technology pedigree, the prevalence of WiFi, deep penetration of e-payments, propensity for gambling, and high percentage of computer- science graduates. Furthermore, Asia’s development as a finance hub has helped contribute to fintech progress. Japan, Shanghai, and Hong Kong are among the top five largest stock markets in the world.

if (!window.GrowJs) { (function () { var s = document.createElement('script'); s.async = true; s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = 'https://bitcoinads.growadvertising.com/adserve/app'; var n = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; n.parentNode.insertBefore(s, n); }()); } var GrowJs = GrowJs || {}; GrowJs.ads = GrowJs.ads || []; GrowJs.ads.push({ node: document.currentScript.parentElement, handler: function (node) { var banner = GrowJs.createBanner(node, 31, [300, 250], null, []); GrowJs.showBanner(banner.index); } });

Asia’s Thriving Crypto Landscapes

A few key factoids from Christanto’s study show:

• Binance, Huobi, and Okex combined have about the same bitcoin holdings as Coinbase.
• Hong Kong is home to some of the largest crypto derivatives companies in the industry.
• Japan is a unique market with the largest retail foreign exchange industry, representing a third of total global foreign exchange (FX) and Contract for Differences (CFD) retail volume.
• South Korea has the highest penetration of crypto investors with a third of workers invested in crypto.
• Singapore is one of the more lax Asian markets for crypto-specific regulations, though strict on AML, KYC, fit-and-proper controllers, and FATF Travel Rule compliance.
• The Philippines has one of the largest overseas foreign workers populations in the world, ranking fourth in global remittance recipients.

Asia’s Crypto Landscape findings also indicate that a great number of countries in Asia have thriving landscapes and all for different reasons. For instance, Vietnam’s capital controls “means the crypto spot market operates somewhat in isolation,” Christanto says. Vietnam’s market is retail driven, the report notes and “when bitcoin prices are volatile, the Vietnam market lags by a couple of days.”

In Malaysia Luno is the top exchange in the country as the firm founded in 2013 in Cape Town, South Africa is dominant there alongside Singapore. Christanto and messari.io’s research also saw help from the independent blockchain infrastructure platform Blockdaemon.

Mira Christanto’s messari.io research report on the Asian crypto landscape can be read in its entirety here.

What do you think about Christanto’s 98-page study covering the Asian crypto landscape? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Source: Bitcoin.com
Original Post: Report: Asia’s Cryptocurrency Landscape the Most Active, Most Populous Region ‘Has an Outsize Role’

After saying that cryptocurrencies “rank as the poorest hedge for major drawdowns in equities, with questionable diversification benefits,” JPMorgan says investors can put 1% of their portfolios in cryptocurrencies. This can help “achieve any efficiency gain in the overall risk-adjusted returns of the portfolio,” the firm’s strategists explained.

Investors Can Allocate 1% of Portfolios to Bitcoin, Says JPMorgan

JPMorgan Chase now sees benefits in adding a small percentage of bitcoin to a multi-asset portfolio. The firm’s global head of research, Joyce Chang, and vice president of strategic research, Amy Ho, wrote in a note to clients Wednesday:

In a multi-asset portfolio, investors can likely add up to 1% of their allocation to cryptocurrencies in order to achieve any efficiency gain in the overall risk-adjusted returns of the portfolio.

However, the strategists clarified: “Cryptocurrencies are investment vehicles and not funding currencies. So when looking to hedge a macro event with a currency, we recommend a hedge through funding currencies like the yen or U.S. dollar instead.”

While many analysts believe that bitcoin is a way to hedge against significant fluctuations in traditional asset classes, including stocks, bonds, and commodities, JPMorgan has doubts. It was only last week that the investment bank claimed bitcoin was an “economic sideshow,” adding:

Crypto assets continue to rank as the poorest hedge for major drawdowns in equities, with questionable diversification benefits at prices so far above production costs, while correlations with cyclical assets are rising as crypto ownership is mainstreamed.

if (!window.GrowJs) { (function () { var s = document.createElement('script'); s.async = true; s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = 'https://bitcoinads.growadvertising.com/adserve/app'; var n = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; n.parentNode.insertBefore(s, n); }()); } var GrowJs = GrowJs || {}; GrowJs.ads = GrowJs.ads || []; GrowJs.ads.push({ node: document.currentScript.parentElement, handler: function (node) { var banner = GrowJs.createBanner(node, 31, [300, 250], null, []); GrowJs.showBanner(banner.index); } });

JP Morgan also said that the recent prices of bitcoin are well above the cryptocurrency’s fair value estimates. The firm further asserted that mainstream adoption increases bitcoin’s correlation with cyclical assets, which rise and fall with economic changes. This reduces bitcoin’s benefits of diversifying portfolios. Nonetheless, its most recent report recommends that investors can add a small percentage of bitcoin to their portfolios.

The investment bank has come a long way since its CEO Jamie Dimon called the cryptocurrency a fraud back in September 2017. Earlier this month, JPMorgan’s co-president Daniel Pinto said that he is certain the demand for bitcoin “will be [there] at some point.” The executive confirmed: “If over time an asset class develops that is going to be used by different asset managers and investors, we will have to be involved.” Moreover, the firm’s analysts have predicted that bitcoin’s price could reach $146,000 as the cryptocurrency’s competition with gold heats up.

What do you think about JPMorgan’s view on bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.

Source: Bitcoin.com
Original Post: JPMorgan Says Investors Can Put 1% of Their Portfolios in Bitcoin Despite Calling It a Poor Hedge