Altcoin News by Thebittimes.Com

The world’s largest bitcoin fund, Grayscale’s GBTC, was once a Pacman-like entity, insatiably hoovering up bitcoin. When GBTC was a trust trading on OTC Markets, it had no mechanism for retail investors to sell any of its bitcoin holdings. For a full decade , GBTC gradually acquired more and more bitcoin , cresting a staggering net asset value of $30 billion earlier this month. Then on January 10, everything changed when the SEC approved GBTC ’s conversion into an ETF.  For the first time in history, GBTC began systematically selling bitcoin.  What’s more, it wasn’t the choice of any Grayscale trader to sell; selling was a requirement . As an ETF fund manager, Grayscale must ensure that GBTC’s share price tracks the price of bitcoin. Of course, that price tracking requires selling and buying bitcoin every day to ensure that GBTC’s quantity of bitcoin in custody matches bitcoin’s fluctuating price and corresponding GBTC share price. One week ago — literally, over...

Bitcoin funding rates are in classic bull market territory, but can BTC price upside sustain as macro volatility triggers line up? Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week still riding high near $37,000 as macroeconomic data returns to the fore. The largest cryptocurrency continues to circle its highest levels in 18 months, with excitement over a possible exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval in the United States driving sentiment. That is getting increasingly greedy, however, as according to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, conditions match those seen as BTC price action hit its current all-time highs in late 2021. What could shake up the status quo to produce volatility in the coming days? The odds of an external trigger are more significant this week. A raft of U.S. macro data, including the Consumer Price Index (CPI), has the potential to disrupt any sideways trading activity across risk assets. Multiple officials from the Federal Reserve are also due to speak, while the precarious geopoli...