Questo articolo è
disponibile solo in lingua inglese
ETC Group Crypto Minutes Week #4
Markets rally back to a $2 trillion total market cap, and the mammoth amount of institutional
cash pouring into crypto suggests 2022 won't be like the bear market of 2018-19. KPMG Canada is
the latest major domino to fall, buying Bitcoin and Ethereum for its corporate treasury while
India and Russia agree: crypto can stay if we can have our tax.
The pace of technological development in crypto has not slowed one iota since the start of 2022.
But from the outside looking in, the most prominent story has clearly been that crypto markets
recovered from a $500bn price crash in the wake of two late-January macro events: the US Federal
Reserve's interest rate meeting and the Russian central bank threat to ban cryptocurrencies
(later reversed, but more on that below).
The morning of 24 January saw the lowest point since July 2021 for Bitcoin and the total crypto
market cap, at $33.5k and $1.51 trillion respectively. In total, crypto markets have regained
what they lost since bearishness turned to fear and prices slid sharply.
And any investor looking closely to see which protocols would rebound most strongly from the dip
would see that six of the largest ten cryptoassets (excluding stablecoins and memecoins)
registered a price hike of 25% or more. The clear winners were smart contract blockchains that
have enabled the explosive growth in DeFi and NFT markets.
Avalanche, Tezos, Solana and Polkadot are all Proof of Stake competitors to Ethereum.
What may surprise many from the list above is that older protocols and cryptocurrencies - as
opposed to cryptoassets - including Bitcoin, Stellar and Litecoin - also registered impressive
gains.
End of year metrics from the Stellar Development Foundation showed the cross-border currency
registered 1.8 billion transactions in 2021, while its 2022 roadmap now includes a plan
to build smart contracts on
the XLM blockchain. On 31 January, Litecoin finally enacted
its MWEB extension block protocol update this week: the product of years of work from
development lead David Burkett.
Intriguingly enough, Ethereum layer 2 scaling solution Polygon (MATIC) has more momentum behind
it after scoring a
massive $450m investment led by VC fund Sequoia Capital this week.
Polygon sits on top of the Ethereum blockchain, helping it to process transactions at scale with
lower fees. Co-founder Sandeep Nailwal has said he sees the blockchain becoming a decentralised
version of Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing arm of the $1.6 trillion ecommerce giant.
In December 2021, Polygon and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian's VC outfit Seven Seven Six
launched a $200m fund focused on Web3 crypto startups, just a month after the same
company
doled out $100m to projects building on Solana.
In terms of institutional investors: what started as cautious buying two weeks ago has become a
flood, with $85m of inflows this week representing the highest point since early December 2021.
Bitcoin ETPs and ETFs led the charge with $71m, followed by multi-asset index-style products,
while Ethereum competitors Solana, Polkadot and Cardano each registered positive net inflows,
according to CoinShares data.
Canada's spot Bitcoin ETF saw the
third largest inflows in its history on 1 February, attracting over 1,050BTC, according
to Glassnode.
On 26 January, Bloomberg went all in and called a ‘prolonged'
bear market . Prices had been cut in half from $69k all time highs.
However, just two weeks later, and its own research arm Bloomberg Intelligence (BI) says Bitcoin
may be uniquely suited to enduring price appreciation.
In its February 2022
round up, Mike McGlone, BI's Senior Commodity Strategist, writes:
Some purging of
the speculative excesses of 2021 may mark much of 2022, but Bitcoin is poised to come out
ahead. Early adoption days and limited supply of the nascent technology/asset are prime
advantages for price appreciation of the benchmark crypto, which is well on its way to
becoming global digital collateral.
KPMG buys Bitcoin, Ethereum
We have been saying for some time that to predict a more bullish continuation in markets, we
would have to see several things happen.
Firstly, Bitcoin needs more adoption, and not just from small countries like El Salvador.
Secondly, we would want to see a US spot Bitcoin ETF approved. Thirdly, the sector in general
needs firmer regulation. Fourthly, corporations would have to stake their future on crypto by
adding Bitcoin to their corporate treasury.
On 27 January, the US market regulator
dismissed Fidelity's application for a spot Bitcoin ETF, just seven days after doing the
same for asset manager First Trust and hedge fund SkyBridge Capital. Fidelity's much-lauded Bitcoin First
research paper did little to persuade the SEC that a Bitcoin futures ETF was not what investors
wanted or needed. Incidentally, the world's most liquid institutional-focused Bitcoin investment
product remains ETC Group's Bitcoin ETP
BTCE , which holds 17,421BTC, according to Bitcoin Treasuries.
On crypto corporate treasury: while early adopter Microstrategy has long led the pack, CEO
Michael Saylor made his all-in on Bitcoin decision years ago and the company's repeat purchases
- most recently
$25m for 660BTC - hardly make headlines any more. What is more salient, though, is
Saylor's assertion that Bitcoin is a structural 100-year investment. He
told Yahoo Finance Live on 4 February:
People buy bitcoin because they want to buy an asset, they understand that might have value in 100 years. The truth is there is no security trading on the Nasdaq or the New York Stock
Exchange right now that you can understand 100 years from now.
His company now owns 125,051BTC and remains the
world's leading publicly-traded company in terms of Bitcoin corporate treasury. And according to
a
February SEC filing , Tesla's Bitcoin holdings have swelled in value to nearly $2bn.
So the
7 February announcement that the Canadian arm of Big Four accounting giant KPMG has
added Bitcoin and Ethereum to its corporate treasury is very big news.
Cryptoassets are a maturing asset class,
noted Benjie Thomas, the Canadian Managing Partner for KPMG Advisory.
Investors such as hedge funds and family offices to large insurers and pension
funds are increasingly gaining exposure…this investment reflects our belief that
institutional adoption of cryptoassets and blockchain technology will continue to grow and
become a regular part of the asset mix.
KPMG said it established a governance committee for oversight and to approve the treasury
allocation, as well as assessing the tax and accounting implications of the transaction.
KPMG Cryptoassets and Blockchain Services co-leader Kareen Sadek added:
We've invested in a
strong cryptoassets practice and we will continue to enhance and build on our capabilities
across DeFi, NFTs and the Metaverse, to name a few. We expect to see a lot of growth in
these areas in the years to come.
Canadian businesses have long been at the forefront of recognising the long-term structural
importance of Bitcoin and crypto. In October last year, the world's 12th-largest pension fund
CDPQ made a $400m investment in DeFi lender Celsius Network.
India, Russia, US see huge tax revenues from legalised crypto
Russia's swift volte face on Bitcoin helped to calm markets considerably. News broke on
20 January that its central bank and de facto market regulator had
called for a full ban on mining, trading and cryptocurrency usage.
Within days, President Putin pushed back on the comments, telling national news agency Tass that
Russia had competitive advantages in cryptocurrency mining (according to the latest
figures, the country accounts for some 11% of the Bitcoin hashrate) and that the regulator was
not trying to block technical progress while it was taking required measures to
implement state-of-the-art technologies.
In response the Russian Finance Ministry put forward a legal
cryptocurrency regulatory framework, citing potential tax revenues from the several million
crypto wallets containing ~2 trillion rubles ($25.6bn) opened by Russian citizens.
In the States, where Joe Biden's government is asking federal departments to report on the risks
and opportunities of cryptoassets, a
new bill proposed by a bipartisan group of US House representatives would offer tax
relief on crypto transactions less than $200.
As consumers increasingly use cryptocurrencies to complete everyday transactions, we must modernize their tax treatments,
said lead sponsor Rep Susan Delbene.
This common sense bill will finally allow Americans to use their digital wallet as seamlessly as cash.
We should logically be able to use crypto for everyday, small dollar
transactions. Our tax code shouldn't complicate that. Proud to support @RepDelbene's very
commonsense bill. pic.twitter.com/FMHs5UX6Xz
And after years of back and forth between its Reserve Bank and Supreme Court, India too is edging
towards legalising crypto.
In the country's
annual budget speech on 1 February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a 30%
tax on income from the transfer of digital assets, while announcing that the country would
launch a digital rupee CBDC by 2023.
Leading Indian crypto businesses focused on the macro implications.
India is finally on the path to legitimising the crypto sector in India, said Nishal
Shetty, the CEO of WazirX, one of the country's largest cryptoexchanges.
A digital rupee would also pave the way for crypto adoption , he added, saying that
clarity on crypto taxation will add much needed recognition for the crypto ecosystem.
Sidharth Sogani, CEO of research house Crebaco added: You can't tax something which
is illegal. Hence this is a very positive move by the government. If
there are tax clarities in this space, more money is likely to come in.
Markets
BTC/USD
ETH/USD
LTC/USD
BCH/USD
ADA/USD
DOT/USD
SOL/USD
XTZ/USD
XLM/USD
AVVISO IMPORTANTE:
Questo articolo non costituisce consulenza finanziaria, né rappresenta un'offerta o un invito all'acquisto di prodotti finanziari. Questo articolo è solo a scopo informativo generale, e non vi è alcuna assicurazione o garanzia esplicita o implicita sulla correttezza, accuratezza, completezza o correttezza di questo articolo o delle opinioni in esso contenute. Si consiglia di non fare affidamento sulla correttezza, accuratezza, completezza o correttezza di questo articolo o delle opinioni in esso contenute. Si prega di notare che questo articolo non costituisce né consulenza finanziaria né un'offerta o un invito all'acquisizione di prodotti finanziari o criptovalute.
PRIMA DI INVESTIRE IN CRYPTO ETP, GLI INVESTITORI POTENZIALI DOVREBBERO CONSIDERARE QUANTO SEGUE:
Gli investitori potenziali dovrebbero cercare consulenza indipendente e prendere in considerazione le informazioni rilevanti contenute nel prospetto base e nelle condizioni finali degli ETP, in particolare i fattori di rischio menzionati in essi. Il capitale investito è a rischio, e le perdite fino all'importo investito sono possibili. Il prodotto è soggetto a un rischio controparte intrinseco nei confronti dell'emittente degli ETP e può subire perdite fino a una perdita totale se l'emittente non adempie ai suoi obblighi contrattuali. La struttura legale degli ETP è equivalente a quella di un titolo di debito. Gli ETP sono trattati come altri strumenti finanziari.
Informazioni su Bitwise
Bitwise è uno dei principali asset manager specializzati in criptovalute a livello globale. Migliaia di consulenti finanziari, family office e investitori istituzionali in tutto il mondo si sono uniti a noi per comprendere e cogliere le opportunità offerte dalle criptovalute. Dal 2017, Bitwise ha costruito una solida reputazione nella gestione di una vasta gamma di soluzioni, sia di indici che attive, per ETP, conti gestiti separatamente, fondi privati e strategie di hedge fund, sia negli Stati Uniti che in Europa.
In Europa, Bitwise (precedentemente ETC Group) ha sviluppato negli ultimi quattro anni una delle gamme di ETP su criptovalute più complete e innovative, tra cui il più grande e liquido ETP di bitcoin in Europa, BTCE. Questa famiglia di ETP cripto è domiciliata in Germania ed è approvata dal regolatore tedesco. Collaboriamo esclusivamente con aziende rinomate del settore finanziario tradizionale, garantendo che il 100% degli asset sia conservato offline (cold storage) tramite depositari specializzati e regolamentati.
I nostri prodotti europei comprendono una gamma di strumenti finanziari di qualità istituzionale, che si integrano perfettamente in qualsiasi portafoglio professionale, offrendo un'esposizione completa alla classe di asset cripto. L'accesso è semplice tramite le principali borse europee, con quotazione principale su Xetra, la borsa più liquida per il trading di ETF in Europa. Gli investitori privati beneficiano di un accesso agevole attraverso numerosi broker fai-da-te, insieme alla nostra robusta e sicura struttura ETP fisica, che include anche una funzione di riscatto.
Please confirm the following selection to access the content relevant to you:
Cookie Settings
We use cookies on our site to optimize our services.Learn more
We use cookies on our site to optimize our services.Learn more
Required cookies
These cookies are necessary to ensure the smooth functioning of this website (e.g. session cookies, cookie to store the selected cookie preferences, etc.). These required cookies can thereforce not be deactivated.
Optional cookies
Functional cookies are used to ensure the smooth functioning of all tools on the wesites. The entire and proper function of the webite is available to the user only with the use of functional cookies. The use of analysis cookies serves the ongoing quality improvement of this website and its content. By using them, wa aim to maximise user satisfaction.
Avis Important
Des produits tels que BTCE - ETC Group Physical Bitcoin ("BTCE") sont des Exchange Traded Commodities ("ETC"), instruments financiers considérés comme des titres de créances complexes par l'Autorité des Marchés Financiers présentant des risques difficilement compréhensibles par le grand public. A ce titre, leur distribution en France répond à des règles spécifiques. Il relève de la responsabilité des intermédiaires et investisseurs professionnels souhaitant offrir des ETCs à leurs clients de s'assurer que leur distribution auxdits clients est réalisée dans le respect de la réglementation française.
Terms of website use
Important Notice
Please read these terms carefully before using this website. By clicking on “Accept” and by accessing the website on an ongoing basis, you are deemed to have read, understood and accepted these Terms of Website Use.
The distribution of the information and material on this Website may be restricted by law in certain countries. None of the information is directed at, or is intended for distribution to, or use by, any person or entity in any jurisdiction (by virtue of nationality, place of residence, domicile or registered office) where publication, distribution or use of such information would be contrary to local law or regulation. By clicking on “Accept” and by accessing the website on an ongoing basis you attest that you are a professional investor or are otherwise allowed to access this website pursuant to all applicable laws.
You must not use or attempt to use any automated program (including, without limitation, any spider or other web crawler) to access our system or in relation to this Website.
We may change these Terms of Website Use from time to time. Any changes we may make will be posted on this website. By continuing to use and access this website following such changes, you agree to be bound by any changes we make. Please review this page frequently to see any updates or changes to these Terms.
If you are in the UK, US or Canada
Information available on this website is not, and under no circumstances is to be construed as, an advertisement or any other step in furtherance of a public offering in the United States, to, or for the account or benefit of, any U.S. Person or in Canada, or any state, province or territory thereof, where neither the Issuer nor its products are authorised or registered for distribution or sale and where no prospectus of the Issuer has been filed with any securities regulator. Neither this website nor information it contains should be accessed by a US person or legal entity or taken, transmitted or distributed (directly or indirectly) into the United States.
This document does not constitute an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity. In the UK, this document is provided for information purposes and directed only at investment professionals (as defined under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 as amended from time to time). It is not intended for use by, or directed at, retail customers or any person who does not have professional experience in matters relating to investment in cryptocurrencies and crypto-backed ETPs. Neither the Issuer nor its products are authorised or regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
No advice
Nothing on this website should be considered to be investment, legal, tax or any other advice nor is it to be relied on in making an investment decision. All investors should obtain independent investment advice and inform themselves as to applicable legal requirements, exchange control regulations and taxes in their jurisdiction.
The information on this website is provided for information purposes only. The fact that ETC Group has provided it does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any particular product or to engage in any other related transaction. The products involve a high degree of risk and are not necessarily suitable for everyone. The products presented in this section of the website are intended for sale only to sophisticated investors who are able to understand and bear the risks involved. They may not be suitable for you.
In preparing the information in this section of the Website, ETC Group has not taken into account your individual investment objectives, financial situation or investment needs. Nothing in the website constitutes or is intended to constitute financial, legal, accounting or tax advice. Neither ETC Group or any affiliate will provide or purport to provide you with investment advice as a result of your use of this website. Accessing this website does not create any contract whereby ETC Group agrees or undertakes to provide you with any information or investment advice. The information on this website is provided solely on the basis that you will make your own investment decisions.
Limitation of Liability
Neither ETC Group nor any of its affiliates, directors, officers or employees shall be responsible or will be liable for any loss or damage including consequential or indirect damage or loss of profit, arising in any way from the use of, or inability to use, this website or any reliance placed on the information it contains. The website is provided on an "as is" basis. Whilst we take all reasonable care to ensure the information published on this website is up to date and as accurate as possible, ETC Group does not guarantee or warrant that this website, or any services or content on it, will always be accurate, available or provided uninterrupted. We may suspend, withdraw, discontinue or change all or any part of this website without notice. We do not guarantee that this website will be secure or free from bugs or viruses. You agree that your use of this website is at your own risk.
Certain documents made available on this Website may have been prepared and issued by persons other than ETC Group. ETC Group is not responsible in any way for the content of any such documents. The website may also contain hyperlinks to external websites that are not under the control of ETC Group. ETC Group does not approve or endorse the contents of such websites and does not control or take any responsibility for the content of any such websites.
Risk Warnings
Cryptocurrencies and products linked to cryptocurrencies are highly volatile.
You can lose some or all of your investment.
Risks of investing are numerous and include market, price, currency, liquidity, operational, legal and regulatory risks.
Exchange traded products do not offer a fixed income or match precisely the performance of the underlying cryptocurrency.
Investment in cryptocurrencies and products linked to cryptocurrencies are only suitable for experienced investors and you should seek independent advice and check with your broker prior to investing.
All investors should read the relevant base prospectus and final terms contained on this website before investing and, in particular, the section entitled ‘Risk Factors’ for further details of risks associated with an investment.
General
The website is owned and operated by ETC Management Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under number 12165332 with its registered office at Gridiron, One Pancras Square, London, England, N1C 4AG. You can contact us by email at europe@bitwiseinvestments.com.
References to “ETC Group”, “we”, “us” and “our” in these Terms of Website Use refer to ETC Management Ltd and our affiliates.
All content and the design of this Website are owned by ETC Group or our licensors and protected by copyright and other applicable laws. Any copying of the website or of its content requires the prior written consent of ETC Group.
ETC Group respects the privacy of users. Please see our Privacy Policy for information setting out how we handle personal information collected through the Website.
The products displayed on this website are not available for subscription or purchase by retail investors in your selected jurisdiction. Please contact your broker or financial adviser for further information.
Important Notice:
The distribution of the information and material on this website may be restricted by law in certain countries. None of the information is directed at, or is intended for distribution to, or use by, any person or entity in any jurisdiction (by virtue of nationality, place of residence, domicile or registered office) where publication, distribution or use of such information would be contrary to local law or regulation.
The products on this website are not intended to be offered and shall not be offered to any private investor.
Important information:
The distribution of the information and material on this Website may be restricted by law in certain countries. None of the information is directed at, or is intended for distribution to, or use by, any person or entity in any jurisdiction (by virtue of nationality, place of residence, domicile or registered office) where publication, distribution or use of such information would be contrary to local law or regulation.
If you are a UK professional investor and want more information on the products, please visit www.hanetf.com. For professional investors only. Capital at risk.