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☆ ETFs holding bitcoin are now the crypto's largest holders, surpassing creator Satoshi Nakamoto
▼ + stars: | 2024-12-10 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

BTC.CM= YTD mountain Bitcoin in 2024 Collectively, bitcoin ETFs now own more of the cryptocurrency than legendary pseudonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto, who is believed to control as much as 1.1 million bitcoin. Largest bitcoin holders U.S. Spot ETFs 1,104,534 Satoshi Nakamoto 1,100,000 Binance 633,000 MicroStrategy 402,100 U.S. Government 198,109 Chinese Government 194,000 Bitfinex 184,027 Kraken 158,959 Block One 164,000 Robinhood 142,361 Source: Bloomberg/Eric Balchunas "Bitcoin ETFs have become the vehicle of choice for bitcoin holders," Brian Hartigan, global head of ETFs at Invesco, said Monday on CNBC's "Halftime Report." With spot bitcoin ETFs now accounting for more than $100 billion in assets, bitcoin is now about 1% of the assets under management of the entire ETF universe. Will bitcoin ETFs pass gold ETFs in 2025? With spot bitcoin ETFs now over $100 billion in AUM, Geraci said there is a real chance bitcoin ETFs will pass gold ETFs next year.

Persons: Satoshi Nakamoto, Nakamoto, Eric Balchunas, Brian Hartigan, bitcoin, It's, Hartigan, Nate Geraci, Geraci, There's, Donald Trump's, David Sacks, Paul Atkins, Atkins, validators, Will Organizations: Government, Bloomberg, bitcoin, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Republican SEC, SEC, Liberty Locations: United States

☆ The stock market could be a $50 trillion guardrail on Trump
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-19 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Yet there is another force that could deter Trump from some of his most extreme instincts: the $50 trillion US stock market. A view of the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street on November 13 in New York City. A view of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wall Street November 13, 2024, in New York City. Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images“There is zero chance that he will take personally any negative feedback from the stock market,” said Sonnenfeld. While the stock market initially celebrated the election results, the bond market did not.

Persons: Donald Trump, Gary Cohn, Trump, Jack Smith, CNN’s Kayla Tausche, ”, Isaac Boltansky, Angela Weiss, Jerome Powell, Trump’s, Xi Jinping, Ed Mills, Raymond James, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Alexander Hamilton, Chip Somodevilla, ” Lori Calvasina, it’s Organizations: New, New York CNN, Trump Republicans, Dow Jones, Federal, New York Stock Exchange, Getty, Trump, CNN, Yale, Leadership, Treasury, Fed, U.S . Department of Treasury, RBC Capital Markets Locations: New York, China, New York City, Argentina, Washington, “, Washington ,, recalibrate

☆ A Gen Z pop star kicked off Harris’ campaign. Puerto Rican musicians may bring her to the finish line
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-31 | by ( Elizabeth Wagmeister | Priscilla Alvarez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Harris campaign officials had always planned for star-studded events in the homestretch of the presidential election. Harris pollster Matt Barreto, who focuses on Latino voters, argued that endorsements can help mobilize voters. Annie Mulligan/APBoth campaigns utilize the power of celebrityEver since Harris’ campaign kicked off with Charli XCX’s lime green stamp of approval, Hollywood’s influence has been in the spotlight. Both Harris and Trump swiftly pounced on the “Swiftie” fanbase, showcasing the pop superstar’s immense reach: The Harris campaign created Harris-Walz friendship bracelets inspired by the singer, while the Trump campaign released Eras Tour-inspired T-shirts. As Election Day nears, the Harris campaign is bringing in more A-listers to mobilize people to vote, including a long-anticipated appearance by Beyoncé last week.

Persons: CNN —, Nicky Jam, Donald Trump, ” Nicky Jam, Harris, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, Don Omar, “ Despacito, Luis Fonsi, Bunny, Lopez, Trump, –, Danielle Alvarez, Bunny –, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio –, Harris ’, “, ”, Bad Bunny, Harris pollster Matt Barreto, ” Barreto, Barreto, ” Beyoncé, Kamala Harris, Annie Mulligan, kamala, Charli, Chappell Roan, Taylor Swift’s, Walz, Beyoncé, Brett Favre, Phil McGraw, Elon Musk, Angela Weiss, Leonardo DiCaprio, Arnold Schwarzenegger, I’m, ” Schwarzenegger, Schwarzenegger, Jon Voight, Kelsey Grammer, Roseanne Barr, Jason Aldean, John Rich, Dennis Quaid, Zachary Levi, Mel Gibson, Mike Tyson, Harrison Butker, Buzz Aldrin, podcasters, Adin Ross, podcaster Joe Rogan Organizations: CNN, Las, Puerto Ricans, Trump’s New, Trump’s New York City, Puerto, Bad, Hollywood, Packers, Trump’s, Television, Madison, Getty, Republican, ”, Trump, Kansas City Chiefs Locations: Las Vegas, Trump’s New York, “ Puerto Rico, Puerto, Puerto Rican, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Houston, Gen, Green Bay , Wisconsin, Trump’s, New York City, California, American, Hollywood

As President Joe Biden fought to remain in the presidential race this summer, advisers often argued there existed a “Biden coalition” — a cohort only the incumbent could hold together. A coalition of labor groups targeting union members in battleground states is pointing to Biden’s term in office. Coons noted the vice president has campaigned in Pennsylvania’s biggest cities, but also in places like Wilkes-Barre, Johnstown and Erie to reach the kinds of voters Biden has long considered his base. And for some voters whom Biden won in 2020, the message has shifted away from being about him. The union has held rallies and other organizing events there and in Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada targeting its own and other union members.

Persons: Joe Biden, ”, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Sen, Bernie Sanders, Trump, Biden, Tim Walz, Harris ’, Biden’s, Walz, ” Walz, Chris Coons, “ Kamala Harris, Harris, Coons, ” Coons, ” Harris, …, Randi Weingarten, ” Weingarten, aren’t, “, we’ve, “ We’ve, ’, Harris —, Sanders, Harris “, Shawn Fain, Lisa Blunt Rochester, “ Biden, Harris’s, Andrew Bates Organizations: Biden, Democratic, Harris, Major League Baseball, American Federation of Teachers, Task Force, Organizing, Empowerment, Trump, Republican, Culinary, United Auto Workers Locations: Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Scranton , Pennsylvania, Arizona, Lansing , Michigan, Pennsylvania’s, Wilkes, Barre , Johnstown, Erie, Scranton, Scranton that’s, New Hampshire, Nevada, Michigan, Pittsburgh, LIUNA, Michigan , Wisconsin, Wisconsin, Delaware

☆ Two former MIT students charged with stealing $25 million of crypto in 12 seconds
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Authorities said they executed their elaborate heist in April 2023, stealing $25 million from traders in just 12 seconds by fraudulently gaining access to pending transactions and altering the movement of cryptocurrency. “As we allege, the defendants’ scheme calls the very integrity of the blockchain into question,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. An indictment charged them with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Anton Peraire-Bueno was arrested in Boston, while James Peraire-Bueno was arrested in New York. Prosecutors said that after carrying out the heist, the brothers rejected requests to return the funds and instead took steps to launder and hide the stolen cryptocurrency.

Persons: Anton Peraire, James Peraire, ”, Damian Williams, Bueno Organizations: CNN, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Authorities, MIT, Prosecutors Locations: Manhattan, U.S, Boston, New York, Cambridge , Massachusetts

☆ The problem with Ether right now for investors
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-11 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

While the supply of bitcoin is slowing after the halving , the supply of ether is growing at its fastest rate since 2022, according to CryptoQuant – crushing some investor's dreams of ether as an asset that would grow increasingly scarce. The median transaction fee is about 4x lower now that it was before Dencun for the same level of network activity. Some investors had hoped ether could compete with bitcoin, whose rate of supply growth slows every four years after the halving. For many, that idea was a side effect of the primary thesis on Ethereum, which sees it as a growing, scalable transaction network on which to build applications. Network activity would have to increase 3 to 4x to reverse the growing supply trend, if this relationship holds, he said.

Persons: Dencun, Julio Moreno, CryptoQuant's, Ethereum, Moreno Locations: ETH

☆ Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin travels the globe to keep crypto alive as the U.S. cracks down
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +17 min

Today, the biggest challenge for Buterin and the ethereum community is making sure that it provides actual value to people. Buterin was named the world's youngest crypto billionaire at age 27 as the crypto market swelled to its peak in 2021. And he isn't, according to his own estimation, the be-all and end-all authority on the ethereum network. About the ethereum network, he says, "On the other hand, you've got your laptop. In terms of what's next for ethereum — Buterin says a big priority is focusing on privacy and scalability through zero-knowledge rollups.

Persons: Vitalik Buterin, Buterin, coder, doesn't, Czech Republic Pavel Sinagl, that's, clasped, Buterin wasn't, cryptocurrencies, Sam Bankman, Luna, they're, Dmitry, Vitalik, Dmitry Buterin, ethereum blockchains, you've, Satoshi Nakamoto, ethereum, — Buterin Organizations: CNBC PRAGUE, CNBC, Canadian, U.S . Tornado, Buterin, U.S, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, CFTC, People's Bank of China, tinker, Ethereum, Ethereum Foundation Locations: Prague, Russia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Netherlands, Paralelní Polis, Holešovice, China, U.S, Africa, Argentina, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, CBDCs, Moscow, ethereum, Denver, Paris

☆ It’s been one year since the Ethereum merge. Here’s how the network is doing on its goals.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-17 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Despite ether's recent price action, the network has been thriving since the "merge" – and could just be getting started. Still, market participants are seeing and feeling the success of the Ethereum merge. Here's how Ethereum is doing on some of its post-merge goals: Yields Ether's staking reward reference rate was 5.854% per annum on Sept. 15, 2022, according to Ethereum data provider Beaconchain. The percentage of ether supply being staked has risen from 11.99% on Sept. 15, 2022, to 20.46% on Aug. 30 of this year. Burning fees and decreasing supply Ethereum has a mechanism programmed in to regulate the network's notoriously high transaction fees, called gas fees, by "burning" them.

Persons: Ethereum, it's, Ethereum haven't, Matthew Sigel, Andrew Ballinger, hadn't, Maria Shen, Shen, It's Organizations: Metrics, First, ETH, Electric Locations: Bitcoin, FTX, First Republic, Shanghai, ETH, Solana, Cardano

☆ Blockchains are ‘basic utilities’ for the digital economy, says Franklin Templeton crypto head
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Think of investing in crypto as investing in technology for the data economy. Crypto is unchartered territory for most, but the 76-year-old asset manager has dived deep into research in recent years believing digital assets will transform asset management, capital markets and the increasingly digital, data-driven world at large. "You don't expect it to end just at just Bitcoin and Ethereum , and we expect over the next several years, several things that continue to unfold and find application," Roger Bayston, Franklin Templeton's head of digital assets, told CNBC Pro at the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals' VISION conference in Austin, Texas. Since 2019, the firm has operated node validators on various blockchains – including Ethereum, Solana , Cardano and Polkadot . Bayston said investors who have the stomach for high volatility and uncertainty could be rewarded in the future.

Persons: Franklin Templeton, Crypto, Roger Bayston, Franklin Templeton's, Bayston, It's Organizations: CNBC Pro, Digital Assets, Financial Professionals, Government Money Market Locations: Austin , Texas, Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, U.S

☆ It’s been a month since the big Shapella upgrade. Here’s how Ethereum has changed since then
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A little over a month ago, Ethereum underwent a major technology upgrade that allowed investors to withdraw their "staked," or locked up, coins on the network for the first time ever. The change, known as Shanghai or Shapella, was meant to bring more liquidity to the network by allowing investors to withdraw their staked assets. The total value of ether staked has risen, while the supply has fallen dramatically. Here's what else has happened in the month since Shapella: 1. So far, however, ETH fees have outpaced the growth in the amount of ether staked, leading to higher yields, he said.

LONDON, April 13 (Reuters) - Cryptocurrency investors are facing delays to withdraw funds deposited on the Ethereum blockchain after its major software upgrade, highlighting persistent headaches for Ethereum which aims to have the technology widely used for instant payments. The software upgrade, known as "Shapella," was set to unlock more than $30 billion worth of ether , the second-biggest cryptocurrency, which investors had deposited on the Ethereum blockchain in return for interest. Until Wednesday's upgrade, investors could not withdraw funds they had deposited via this method, known as "staking", on the Ethereum blockchain. As of Thursday, ether worth around $1.4 billion was stuck in a withdrawal queue, blockchain data firm Nansen said. "Due to the processing limitations on the Ethereum network, Binance will set a daily ETH redemption quota for each Binance user," Binance said on its website.

☆ Ether is poised to climb higher with the uncertainty of 'Shanghai' behind investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Market participants say that with all the uncertainty out of the way, ether may finally catch up with bitcoin. After Shanghai Investors can now withdraw staked ether from the network for the first time ever: This is one of the biggest attractions of the Shanghai upgrade. This Merge ultimately made more liquidity available to ether investors and stakers. "Dominance" measures how a crypto asset like bitcoin is performing relative to its peers in the crypto market. That correlation has declined, however, in part because market participants have favored bitcoin over ether ahead of the Shanghai upgrade.

☆ Ether is rallying ahead of major upgrade that will let holders more easily access their tokens
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Ethereum underwent a huge network upgrade called the merge which proponents say will make transactions much more energy efficient. Following the merge, ether prices have dropped following a huge run up ahead of the event. Ether has spiked this week to a nine-month high, ahead of a major network upgrade that some crypto enthusiasts say will make the digital currency a more profitable long-term investment. Currently, over 18 million ether tokens worth about $32.5 billion are staked, meaning that 15% of ether's total supply are considered locked assets. That could signal a buildup of bearish bets leading up to the network upgrade.

☆ What investors need to know about ‘staking,’ the passive income opportunity at the center of crypto’s latest regulation scare
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Not six months ago, ether led a recovery in cryptocurrency prices ahead of a big tech upgrade that would make something called "staking" available to crypto investors. A clampdown on staking, and staking services, could have damaging consequences not just for those exchanges, but also Ethereum and other proof-of-stake blockchain networks. For example, if you decide you want to stake your ether holdings, you would do so on the Ethereum network. Investors can give their crypto to the staking service and the service does the staking on the investors' behalf. Proof-of-stake vs. proof-of-workStaking works only for proof-of-stake networks like Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot and Cardano.

The checking is not done by individuals, but by computers in the blockchain network, often via third-party staking services. Nearly all of the major crypto exchanges offer staking services to their customers for a variety of tokens, including Coinbase (COIN.O), Binance, Crypto.com, Gemini, Huobi and OKX. The SEC has said most staking providers fail to provide customers proper disclosures about how their cryptocurrency will be used and should register their staking services with the agency. In its settlement with the SEC on Feb. 9, Kraken neither admitted nor denied the SEC's claim that its staking service should have been registered. Kraken said it would continue to offer staking to customers based outside of the United States.

☆ Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is sounding the alarm on a potential 'staking' crackdown. Here's what it says about crypto
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

"We're hearing rumors that the SEC would like to get rid of crypto staking in the U.S. for retail customers," he said in his tweet . Staking is not just a yield-generating opportunity for crypto investors, it's also essential to the way proof-of-stake protocols like Ethereum operate. If there was some kind of chokehold on staking or staking services, the outcome for Ethereum could be "disastrous," according to Owen Lau, an analyst at Oppenheimer. That opportunity is widely seen as a catalyst for mainstream adoption of crypto and a revenue opportunity for exchanges like Coinbase. Armstrong's latest comments came a day before Kraken, one of Coinbase's main exchange competitors, agreed to shutter its crypto staking operations to settle charges with the SEC, according to CoinDesk.

☆ Crypto exchange Kraken to end staking service, pay fine in U.S. SEC settlement
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Hannah Lang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Those providers should register their staking services with the SEC, Gensler added. Owners of crypto assets that use a "proof-of-stake" blockchain can stake some of their assets to potentially take part in the process of validating transactions. In exchange for their work, validators are often rewarded with newly created crypto assets. Kraken offers its customers the ability to "stake" certain crypto tokens in order to earn rewards. The settlement comes a year after a subsidiary of crypto company BlockFi Inc agreed to pay $100 million to the SEC and 32 states to settle charges in connection with a retail crypto lending product the company offered to nearly 600,000 investors.

Owners of crypto assets that use a "proof-of-stake" blockchain can stake some of their assets to potentially take part in the process of validating transactions. In exchange for their work, validators get transaction fees and/or newly created crypto assets. Lawmakers have stepped up calls for regulation after crypto firms' customers were left with large losses. Revolut said customers' staked funds would be held with "trusted custodians" but did not specify who these custodians were. Asked how the firm established the trustworthiness of the custodians, a spokesperson told Reuters that Revolut completed its own due diligence.

☆ Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck 2 environmental engineers and a crypto enthusiast used to raise $4.1 million for their Web3 carbon-credit startup
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Open Forest Protocol, a Web3 climate-tech startup, has raised $4.1 million in pre-seed funding. An environmental engineer by trade, he launched a nonprofit devoted to helping reforestation projects find funding. Open Forest ProtocolFournier, Open Forest Protocol's CEO, cofounded the startup with Aureline Grange, a fellow environmental engineer at his nonprofit, and Michael Kelly, an early contributor to the Near blockchain. But on Open Forest Protocol, they can do so at no upfront cost. Here's an exclusive look at a version of the pitch deck Open Forest Protocol used to raise $4.1 million:

☆ Solana's slide accelerates — $50 billion in value wiped from the cryptocurrency in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The token's market cap collapsed from over $55 billion in January to barely above $3 billion at year-end. Bankman-Fried's companies held nearly $1.2 billion worth of the token and associated assets in June, according to documents reviewed by CoinDesk. But the recent slides came after that news had already broken, making Solana's recent slide something of a mystery. During the crypto market's heyday in 2021, Bankman-Fried was hardly alone in his bullishness. Solana's token fell from $141 to a low of a little over $94.

☆ US senators have unveiled a new bipartisan bill to crack down on crypto money laundering
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

US Senators are cracking down on money laundering via cryptocurrency in a new bill on Wednesday. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Roger Marshall proposed the bill titled "Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2022." The bill, titled "Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2022," could amp up know-your-customer (KYC) requirements in an effort to deter bad actors in the nascent space. If it becomes a law, wallet providers, cryptocurrency miners, validators, and mixers could be classified as money service businesses. Warren, who has been a long-time outspoken critic of digital assets, says that she wants the industry to comply with the same money laundering rules as traditional financial institutions.

☆ Elizabeth Warren unveils bipartisan bill to crack down on crypto money laundering
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —As federal prosecutors seek to imprison former crypto darling Sam Bankman-Fried, Sen. Elizabeth Warren is attempting to push through Congress a bipartisan crackdown on money laundering in the crypto industry. Due to time constraints, the Warren-Marshall crypto legislation has little chance of getting through this Congress. The new bill, called the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, would attack money laundering by attempting to bring the digital asset ecosystem into compliance with the existing system of anti-money laundering in the worldwide financial system. The Treasury Department warned earlier this year that ransomware hackers, drug traffickers and fraudsters are using digital assets to launder illicit proceeds. - Cracking down on digital asset ATMs by making sure operators and administrators submit and update the physical addresses of their kiosks.

Proof of work and proof of stake are the two main ways cryptocurrency transactions are verified. Proof of stake requires participants to put cryptocurrency as collateral for the opportunity to successfully approve transactions. Proof of work is more secure than proof of stake, but it's slower and consumes more energy. Proof of stake requires network participants to stake cryptocurrency as collateral in favor of the new block they believe should be added to the chain. While proof of stake avoids the massive energy consumption of proof of work, it hasn't been proven to be as secure and stable as proof of work at scale.

☆ How ethereum's merge made crypto mining more sustainable
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Katie Brigham | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Called proof-of-stake, this system has reduced ethereum's energy consumption by more than 99%. All of this work helps to secure the network by making it nearly impossible for bad actors to accrue enough computing power to take control. But recent research also shows that in 2020, mining Bitcoin consumed 75.4 terawatt hours of electricity, more than all of Austria or Portugal. Ethereum proponents say this penalty will make the network more secure, while bitcoin enthusiasts see proof-of-work as the more secure, tried and true approach. However, the optics of bitcoin's energy use in the midst of the global climate crisis has become a problem for the network.

REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File PhotoLONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - A blockchain linked to Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, has been hit by a $570 million hack, a Binance spokesperson said on Friday, the latest in a series of hacks to hit the crypto sector this year. Criminals have increasingly targeted them, with some $2 billion stolen in 13 different hacks, mostly this year, researcher Chainalysis said in August. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe hackers stole around $100 million worth of crypto, Zhao said in his tweet. BNB Chain later said in a blog post that a total of 2 million of the BNB cryptocurrency - worth around $570 million - was withdrawn by the hacker. BNB Chain suspended its blockchain for several hours before resuming at around 0630 GMT, it said in a tweet.

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