• The Great Accumulation of Bitcoin has begun, says Gemini’s Winklevoss
Recently renewed optimism for an approved Bitcoin (BTC) spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) is igniting “The Great Accumulation Race” for Bitcoin, according to industry pundits.
Cameron Winklevoss, the co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, stated on June 21 that he believes “The Great Accumulation” of Bitcoin has begun between institutions and retail investors.
He suggested that buying Bitcoin prior to the ETFs hitting the public market is akin to that of a pre-Initial Public Offering purchase and suggested that the “floodgates” for buying Bitcoin are “closing fast.”
• Fed Chair Powell Says Bitcoin Has ‘Staying Power’ as an Asset Class
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the U.S. central bank should play a “robust federal role” in overseeing stablecoins, a sizable slice of the overall crypto market that legislators are trying to craft rules for. Powell also remarked that cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, have “staying power.”
His comments came on Capitol Hill during a semiannual hearing on monetary policy held by the Republican-led House Financial Services Committee and led by Patrick McHenry (R-NC).
Responding to a question posed by Maxine Waters (D-CA) on stablecoins, Powell said the technology—where tokens pegged to the price of a sovereign currency like the dollar and issued by private companies—should have strong federal oversight.
• EDX crypto exchange goes live offering bitcoin and ether trading, backed by Schwab and Fidelity
A crypto exchange backed by financial giants Charles Schwab, Fidelity Digital Assets and Citadel Securities has officially launched trading in four crypto assets, the company said Tuesday.
EDX Markets first announced its launch plans for a “non-custodial” exchange in September, about two months before the collapse of FTX. Paradigm, Sequoia Capital and Virtu Financial are among the other early backers.
The announcement comes days after BlackRock filed an application to launch what would be the first spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the U.S., confirmation that despite the crypto industry’s black eye from FTX and other bad actors in 2022, and the chill from U.S. regulators this year, long-term institutional interest has not diminished.
• Deutsche Bank Applies for Digital Asset License in Germany as TradFi Pushes Further Into Crypto
Banking giant Deutsche Bank AG has applied for regulatory permission to operate as a crypto custodian in Germany, the bank said Tuesday. The move came just days after asset management giant BlackRock filed with the SEC to create a spot bitcoin ETF.
“I can confirm that we applied for the BaFin license for crypto custody,” a Deutsche Bank spokesperson told CoinDesk, referring to Germany’s financial regulator.
The bank said in February 2021 that it was exploring cryptocurrency custody in order to be able to offer “institutional-grade hot/cold storage solution with insurance-grade protection.”
• Binance to implement Lightning Network nodes for enhanced Bitcoin transactions
On June 20, cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced that it had commenced operating nodes on the Bitcoin Lightning Network as a crucial step toward integrating it for deposits and withdrawals.
In a tweet, Binance acknowledged users who noticed their new Lightning nodes and confirmed their presence. However, Binance highlighted that additional technical work must be completed before the Lightning integration is fully implemented, promising to provide updates along the way.
• Binance’s BNB Chain introduces layer-2 testnet powered by Optimism
Binance-founded layer-1 blockchain BNB Chain has introduced a new layer-2 chain that it hopes will address its “scalability challenge.”
On June 19, BNB Chain unveiled opBNB, which has launched as a testnet. The new layer-2 scaling solution is based on the Optimism OP Stack, which it says will add additional security and scalability to the Binance blockchain network.
The system is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible layer-2 chain, which means it works with Ethereum-based smart contracts, networks and ERC-20 token standards.
Concluding Notes:
- The accumulation of Bitcoin has begun
- BTC has staying power as an asset class
- EDX crypto exchange goes live
- Deutsche Bank AG applies for regulatory permission to operate as a crypto custodian in Germany
- Binance implements Lightning Network
- BNB chain introduces layer-2 testnet with Optimism
