Bitcoin ETFs: What are they and how do they work?
Justin Arzadon
5 minutes reading time
- Digital assets
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Bitcoin dropped under $55K, a level not seen since February, and finished the week lower along with the broader crypto market. Helping push prices down is speculation that mass selling is on the horizon after the German Federal Criminal Police Office moved over US$75 million to crypto exchanges.
Bitcoin was down 6.59%, while ETH was down 11.30%, over the 7 days to 7 July. Bitcoin’s market capitalisation is down to US$1.13 trillion. The total crypto market cap fell to US$2.11 trillion, while bitcoin’s market dominance is up to 53.8%.
| Price | High | Low | Change from previous week | |
| BTC (in US$) | $57,369 | $63,663 | $54,022 | -6.59% |
| ETH (in US$) | $3,005 | $3,510 | $2,834 | -11.30% |
Source: CoinMarketCap. As at 7 July 2024. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Performance is shown in US dollars and does not take into account any USD/AUD currency movements.
Source: Glassnode. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
Crypto news we’re watching
Bitcoin could see selling pressure
The price of bitcoin took a hit after the German Federal Criminal Police Office moved over US$175 million to various wallets and US$75 million to crypto exchanges Kraken and Coinbase. In addition, defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox showed wallet activity for the first time in over a month.
The German Federal Criminal Police Office’s bitcoin was seized in 2013 from a piracy marketplace. The move to crypto exchanges suggests they are ready to sell. Meanwhile Mt. Gox has started distributing bitcoin back to customers who suffered from a 2014 hack, and it is expected that those clients may want to dump their bitcoin on exchange.
Over US$10 billion worth of bitcoin is held by the two entities, $2.3 billion by the German government and $8 billion by the exchange1.
Investment managers file to list spot Solana ETF
Two investment managers filed to list spot Solana ETFs in the US last week. First was VanEck, followed by 21Shares the next day. With spot bitcoin ETFs being approved in January and Ethereum ETFs imminent, firms are hoping to expand their crypto offerings to Solana.
The Solana blockchain is a direct competitor to Ethereum and works to improve on scalability and cost. 21Shares have already had success with a SOL ETP in Europe, which is the firm’s largest product to date.2
CleanSpark exceeds mid-year target
Following the acquisition of five new mining facilities in Georgia, bitcoin mining company CleanSpark achieved and exceeded its mid-year targets. The company mined over 445 BTC in June and surpassed its mid-year operational hashrate target of 20 exahashes per second (EH/s)3.
CleanSpark is currently held in CRYP Crypto Innovators ETF 4. CleanSpark owns and operates multiple data centres that primarily run on low-carbon power and, according to its website, its infrastructure “responsibly supports [b]itcoin, the world’s most important digital commodity and an essential tool for financial independence and inclusion.”
Bitcoin (BTC): Fear and Greed Index
The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is an indicator from Alternative.me that aims at capturing investor sentiment in a single number by incorporating data from multiple sources. The index ranges from 0 to 100, where 0 denotes “extreme fear”, and therefore times of exaggerated negative investor sentiment. On the other hand, 100 means “extreme greed” and is an indication of maximum FOMO.
According to data from Alternative.me, Fear is at a level not seen since January 2023.
Source: Glassnode. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
Bitcoin (BTC): Percent Supply in Profit
This metric shows Market Value to Realised Value (MVRV), and is the ratio between market cap and realised cap. It gives an indication of when the traded price is below “fair value”.
According to data from Glassnode, although the market is in a “fearful” state, most investors remain in a profitable position at current market levels.
Source: Glassnode. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
Altcoin news
Most ‘Top 20’ altcoins were down over the seven days to 7 July, but the worst was Bitcoin Cash (BCH), down over 14%. Helping drive the price down was the news that Mt. Gox will be returning assets stolen in a 2014 hack. This will be mainly in the form of bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH)5.
BCH is a fork of bitcoin that was created in 2017. It works similarly to Bitcoin but has an increased block size limit of 32 MB, allowing for more transactions to be processed per block and a higher network throughput.
Investing in crypto assets or companies servicing crypto-asset markets should be considered very high risk. Exposure to crypto assets involves substantially higher risk when compared to traditional investments due to their speculative nature and the very high volatility of crypto-asset markets.
Investing in crypto assets or crypto-focused companies is not suitable for all investors and should only be considered by investors who (i) fully understand their features and risks or after consulting a professional financial adviser, and (ii) who have a very high tolerance for risk and the capacity to absorb a rapid loss of some or all of their investment. Any investment in crypto assets or crypto-focused companies should only be considered as a very small component of an investor’s overall portfolio.
References:
1. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/07/05/bitcoin-traders-target-50k-as-billions-in-btc-selling-pressure-looms/?_gl=1*1x2xmiu*_up*MQ..*_ga*ODQ1OTAxMzkxLjE3MjAzOTMxMDc.*_ga_VM3STRYVN8*MTcyMDM5MzEwNi4xLjAuMTcyMDM5MzEwNi4wLjAuMTcxMDY3NDkyNg..2. https://etfexpress.com/2024/07/01/21shares-files-for-solana-etf-in-the-us/3. https://www.cleanspark.com/blog/cleanspark-releases-june-2024-bitcoin-mining-update4. As at 7 July 2024. No assurance is given that this company will remain in the portfolio or will be a profitable investment.5. https://www.coinspeaker.com/bitcoin-cash-bch-price-nosedives-mt-gox/
Off the Chain is published every second Tuesday. It provides the latest news on bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market, along with analysis and insights into the world of crypto.
It provides general information only and is not a recommendation to invest in any crypto asset, crypto-focused company or investment product.
