Bitcoin ETFs: What are they and how do they work?
Justin Arzadon
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Bitcoin and the broader crypto market ended the week essentially flat. Heading into the Easter long weekend, and following the jobless claims data in the US, crypto markets remained subdued.
As at 9 April 2023, bitcoin was trading at US$27,923. Ethereum outperformed bitcoin over the week, up 0.87% vs bitcoin’s -1.77% loss. Bitcoin’s market capitalisation is US$540 billion, with the total crypto market cap sitting at US$1.17 trillion. Bitcoin’s market dominance is at 46%.
| Price | High | Low | Change from previous week | |
| BTC (in US$) | $27,923 | $28,739 | $27,276 | -1.77% |
| ETH (in US$) | $1,836 | $1,937 | $1,765 | 0.87% |
Source: CoinMarketCap. As at 9 April 2023. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Performance is shown in US dollars and does not take into account any USD/AUD currency movements.
Source: Glassnode. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
Crypto news we’re watching
ANZ completes first CBDC use case
Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) were tokenised and traded as part of the first Australian use case test for Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot, ANZ bank announced last Wednesday. The bank tokenised ACCUs which were then purchased by Grollo Carbon Ventures, with settlement occurring using ANZ’s stablecoin (A$DC). The stablecoin was backed by pilot CBDC as a risk-free asset to support the issuance of A$DC.
The pilot is being run by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) which began last year to explore cases for CBDCs. ANZ partnered with Grollo Carbon Ventures to trade the ACCUs, which are issued by the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Regulator. Settlement time and partnership risk can be reduced by tokenising carbon markets, and provide incentives for investment in climate solutions.1
ASIC cancels Binance Australia Derivatives AFSL
Following the cancellation on 6 April of the AFSL of Oztures Trading Pty Ltd trading as Binance Australia Derivatives, Binance announced the closure of its Australian derivatives business, citing its recent engagement with ASIC. Clients of Binance Australia Derivatives will not be able to increase derivatives positions or open new positions from 14 April, and will also require users to close any existing positions before 21 April.2
The spot trading platform of Binance Australia remains unaffected and the business said it plans to focus and continue to build on the locally registered spot exchange.
A spokeswoman for Binance said: “Following recent engagement with ASIC, Binance has chosen to pursue a more focused approach in Australia by winding down the Binance Australia Derivatives business. This does not affect Binance’s continued commitment to the development of the local blockchain and digital assets industry, and Australians can continue to enjoy the use of our spot exchange product.”3
CRYP company spotlight
Microstrategy adds to BTC holdings
Nine days after purchasing 6,455 bitcoin on 27 March, the world’s largest corporate holder of bitcoin, Microstrategy, purchased another 1045 bitcoin (~US$30 million), taking its holdings over 140,000 BTC or ~US$3.97 billion. The amount held represents 0.667% of the 21 million BTC supply cap.
The co-founder and executive chairman of Microstrategy, Michael Saylor, tweeted: “Microstrategy has acquired an additional 1,045 bitcoin for ~$29.3M at an average price of $28,016 per bitcoin. As of 4/4/2023 Microstrategy holds 140,000 bitcoin acquired for ~4.17 billion at an average price of $29,803 per bitcoin.”4
On-chain metrics
Bitcoin (BTC): Number of Addresses with Balance ≥ 1
This metric shows the number of unique addresses holding at least 1 coin.
According to data from Glassnode, as at 8 April the number of addresses holding 1 BTC or more is approaching 1 million, currently sitting at 993,766. This number has doubled since mid-2016.
Bitcoin (BTC): Mining Difficulty
This metric shows the current estimated number of hashes required to mine a block.
Note: Bitcoin difficulty is often denoted as the relative difficulty with respect to the genesis block, which required approximately 2^32 hashes. For better comparison across blockchains, Glassnode values are denoted in raw hashes. The greater the difficulty, the harder it is for bitcoin miners to mine blocks.
Based on data from Glassnode, as at 8 April, mining difficulty has reached another all-time high. It’s the fourth consecutive difficulty increase on the Bitcoin network since 24 February.
Source: Glassnode. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
Altcoin news
Top 10 altcoin Dogecoin (DOGE) shot up 25% within minutes on 4 April and over 30% in the 24 hours following Elon Musk changing the Bluebird Twitter logo to the dog picture of Dogecoin. However the logo has since been changed back and the price of DOGE has retraced.
According to on-chain analytics platform – Lookonchain, two of the largest 5 DOGE holders took advantage of the price pump and sold 1.4B DOGE worth roughly US$121 million.5
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.
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.
1. https://media.anz.com/posts/2023/april-/anz-and-grollo-partner-to-trade-tokenised–australian-carbon-cre
2. https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2023-releases/23-091mr-binance-australia-derivatives-afs-licence-cancelled/3. https://www.binance.com/en-AU/blog/all/winding-down-of-binance-australia-derivatives-on-21-april-2023-59374310742653614434. https://news.bitcoin.com/microstrategys-bitcoin-holdings-reach-140000-btc-after-acquiring-1045-more-bitcoins/5. https://cryptopotato.com/1-4b-doge-dumped-by-2-whales-after-elon-musk-changed-the-twitter-logo-to-dogecoin-data/
Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
Off the Chain is published every 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.
