Date: 11/29/2021
“Everyone has double-digit inflation if they measure it correctly and needs Bitcoin more than they realize.” — Michael Saylor
Weekly News Report:
1. Bitcoin led the crypto market to its third straight day of recovery from a “Black Friday” sell-off amid diminishing fears. Bitcoin led the crypto market to its third straight day of gains, after a steep drop by more than 8% on “Black Friday.” The №1 cryptocurrency by market capitalization rose to nearly $59,000 on Monday before it sank toward the $58,000 level again.
2. In a Monday speech for the opening of the New York Innovation Center, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will be partnering with the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub. The partnership would support the agency’s analysis of digital currencies, including the rollout of a central bank digital currency, or CBDC.
3. Michael Saylor announced Monday that the firm purchased an additional 7,002 BTC, worth approximately $414.4 million, at an average price of $59,187 per coin. MicroStrategy sold 571,001 shares of company stock between Oct. 1 and Nov. 29 at $732.16 apiece, raising a total of $414.4 million in cash.
4. Kelly Strategic Management, an investment firm headed by Kevin Kelly, has filed for approval in the U.S. of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tied to ether futures. The Kelly Ethereum Ether Strategy ETF is an actively managed fund that will invest in cash-settled Ether futures contracts traded on registered commodity exchanges.
5. Hivemind Capital Partners, founded by former Citi exec Matt Zhang, announced its inaugural $1.5 billion venture fund to invest in blockchain and digital asset ecosystems. As part of the fund launch, Hivemind has selected layer 1 blockchain Algorand as a strategic partner to provide technology and network ecosystem infrastructure.
6. Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken will support the popular, Ethereum-based meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB), which is expected to begin trading Tuesday. SHIB jumped over 16% at one point Monday as the broader cryptocurrency market continued to rally following Friday’s sell-off.
7. The newly licensed SIX Digital Exchange is in discussions with NFT funds and central banks. The floodgates are now open, according to SDX Chairman Thomas Zeeb. And it seems a segue into NFTs is a natural progression for SDX, whose plan was always to tokenize non-traditional assets like real estate and art, in addition to existing financial products.
8. Bitcoin Latinum (LTNM), the next generation, insured, asset-backed cryptocurrency, in partnership with Unico NFT, is launching an NFT marketplace that features thousands of digital artwork that can be bought and sold exclusively with BTC and Bitcoin LTNM. This is the world’s first platform that enables the option of buying, selling and trading NFTs using cryptocurrencies other than Ethereum type currencies.
9. One of the largest banks in Estonia, LHV, is now offering cryptocurrency trading directly from its app through crypto exchange Bitstamp. The bank says it is the “first bank in the Baltics to start offering crypto trading.”
10. The government of El Salvador bought 100 more bitcoin, President Nayib Bukele tweeted on Friday while the price of BTC by market cap fell about 8% near $54,000.
11. The new German government has cited crypto in its coalition agreement, advocating for an equal playing field between traditional finance and “innovative business models.” The new German coalition is aiming to make the “European financial market supervisory law” fit for crypto assets and businesses.
12. Some $5 billion (350 billion Russian rubles) of crypto changes hands in Russia every year, Russia’s central bank said in its Financial Stability Overview report published Thursday. The growing interest in crypto could become a risk for Russia’s financial stability, the regulator said.
13. Twitter chief technology officer Parag Agrawal has replaced Jack Dorsey as the social media platform’s chief executive officer, following confirmation that Twitter founder Dorsey is stepping down. Dorsey will remain a member of Twitter’s board until his term expires in mid-2022.
14. BitBook, a platform launched in October, provides its community with opportunities to book travel and earn crypto. Operating with a community focus, BitBook is making travel rewarding in more ways than experience, with a diverse set of offerings that now include access to over 400,000 hotels, over 300 airlines and car rentals from Hertz and Sixtz.
15. Cryptocurrency payments continue to gain traction in the world of luxury goods, with a 170-foot yacht being the latest example. The owners of Italian-built superyacht Vianne said in a statement Monday that prospective buyers will be able to buy the vessel with BTC, ETH, DOGE as well as SOL, FTM, BNB or “top tier” NFT from the CryptoPunk or Bored Ape Yacht Club collections.
