JP Morgan calls Bitcoin the new inflation hedge, the SEC approves the closest thing to a Bitcoin ETF, and a rehab clinic can help you if you are addicted to crypto. These stories and more this week in crypto.
JPMorgan sent a note to its clients observing that institutional investors appear to be returning to Bitcoin, seeing it as a better inflation hedge than gold. The reemergence of inflation concerns among investors has renewed interest in the use of bitcoin as a hedge. Earlier this year JP Morgan set a price target for Bitcoin of $140,000.
The SEC has approved Volt Equity’s ETF. The fund tracks companies that hold a majority of their net assets in Bitcoin or derive their revenue from bitcoin-related activities like mining, lending, or manufacturing mining equipment. The SEC is yet to approve any of the more than 20 proposed Bitcoin ETFs that are highly anticipated by the market.
Billion-dollar loans made by the world’s leading stablecoin issuer, Tether have been uncovered. Tether loaned a billion dollars to the crypto-lending network, Celsius, as well as short-term loans to a number of large Chinese firms. Tether responded by describing the individuals involved in the article as “disgruntled” and said they had, “no direct knowledge of the business’s operations.”
A new report issued by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis suggests that despite the negative turns China has taken over the past few months, Asia still ranks as the top continent for crypto transactions. Crypto activity has increased by more than 700 percent in the last year with a huge boom in institutional investing and decentralized finance.
U.S. Bank—the fifth largest financial institution in America—has unveiled a new crypto custody service for professional traders and fund managers. Clients of the bank can store their private keys which grant them access to assets like bitcoin, bitcoin cash, and Litecoin. U.S. Bank currently manages more than $8 trillion in assets for its institutional clients.
MoneyGram has integrated support for crypto wallets using the Stellar Network to access its services globally. MoneyGram says it will enable “near-instant backend settlement” by using the USDC stablecoin. The result will enable 150 million MoneyGram customers worldwide to fund and withdraw from their accounts using USDC at physical branches.
Online crypto market Compound accidentally sent $90 million in crypto to various users’ accounts and is unable to get its lost funds back unless customers agree to return them. The founder first begged users to give the funds back then even threatened to report them to the IRS, but finally opened up to offering compensation should they cooperate.
A castle in Scotland has revamped itself into a rehabilitation center for crypto addicts. Castle Craig has seen its number of crypto patients increase tenfold over the past year. Some have lost millions betting on crypto, while others have even gone to extreme measures such as stealing from employers and loved ones to buy crypto.
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That’s what’s happened this week in crypto, see you next week.
