Date: 06/11/2021
“I should have bought a lot more — that was my mistake.” — Marc Lasry, co-founder and CEO of Avenue Capital Group
Weekly News Report:
1. Norway Finance Minister, Jan Tore Sanner, believes that bitcoin may experience “breakthroughs.” He noted that “There is no doubt that there is great interest in cryptocurrency both in Norway and internationally.”
2. In a Tuesday interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, the co-founder and CEO of Avenue Capital Group Marc Lasry said, “Once a market is created, it’s there. The probability as more and more people keep using Bitcoin, it’s going to keep moving up. It’s happened a little bit quicker than I thought it would.”
3. Some attendees of the Bitcoin 2021 event in Miami have tested positive for COVID-19 after returning home from the conference, leading to a wave of negative media coverage and social media speculation it could turn into a “super spreader event.”
4. According to a report by The New Indian Express on Thursday, the government’s hostile stance toward BTC appears to be shifting toward more common-sense regulatory policies for cryptocurrencies. Indian state officials are reportedly no longer keen on banning Bitcoin and a crypto regulatory bill may be up for discussion during the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
5. Seattle-based mining software company Luxor announced the $5 million funding round on June 9, adding that NYDIG will collaborate with Luxor on a number of mining-related ventures and hashrate-based products.
6. El Salvador plans to tap energy from volcanoes for mining the cryptocurrency. Nayib Bukele’s plans for crypto in El Salvador are still in motion, with the president now calling for a geothermal power company to make certain facilities available to Bitcoin miners.
7. Though its billionaire owner has personally spoken out against digital assets many times, Berkshire Hathaway’s investment may indicate the firm is more open to the idea. Brazilian digital bank Nubank has raised $500 million from Berkshire Hathaway, a multinational holding company run by billionaire Warren Buffett.
8. The U.S. central bank will continue buying Treasury and mortgage bonds to support the economy. Federal Reserve balance sheet tops $8T for the first time.
9. A June 10 notice from the Texas Department of Banking told state-chartered banks they can work with crypto companies. Miners and crypto startups have been moving to Texas in record numbers to take advantage of the state’s relatively cheap energy and crypto-friendly regulatory environment.
10. An NFT of the photo that inspired Dogecoin just sold for $4M. The NFT was minted by a user named @kabosumama on May 31, according to the auction site. The first bid landed on June 8 from a user willing to pay 6.5 ETH for the piece. The winning bid of 1,696.90 ETH — over $4M at time of publication — was wagered on June 11.
11. Nigeria’s central bank plans CBDC pilot launch before the end of 2021. The Central Bank of Nigeria says it is gearing up to test a sovereign digital currency to ease foreign remittance restrictions.
12. Renowned French DJ David Guetta is selling his $14-million Miami beachfront apartment and will accept payments in Bitcoin and Ether. The French DJ, who has multiple songs with more than 1 billion views on YouTube, bought the property for $9.5 million from New York billionaire Richard LeFrak back in 2018.
13. The second-oldest continuously operating U.S. bank, State Street, has launched a new division dedicated to cryptocurrency and digital assets. Multi-trillion dollar asset manager, State Street Corporation, has become the latest financial institution to announce the launch of a dedicated digital finance division.
14. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has published its “Fintech 2025” strategy with CBDC) both retail and wholesale, included in the digital finance innovation package. CBDCs will reportedly play a part in the city administration’s goal of promoting comprehensive digital finance adoption by 2025.
15. Amazon is recruiting an executive with a background in technology consistent with embedded finance and digital currencies. Amazon says it’s particularly interested in either DeFi — which usually refers to financial transactions that are executed by smart contracts on blockchains — or traditional financial services.
16. The San Jose Sharks will become the first National Hockey League (NHL) team to accept cryptocurrency after franchise owner Sharks Sports & Entertainment gave the green light for the alternative payment method.
17. Invesco became the latest in the line of investment companies pursuing cryptocurrency ETFs. About 85 percent of the Invesco Galaxy Blockchain Economy ETF and the Invesco Galaxy Crypto Economy ETF will be in crypto-linked equities, Invesco which holds nearly $1.5 trillion in assets, said in its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing. The remaining of the portfolio will be in trusts and futures that linked to cryptocurrencies.
