Connect with us

Uncategorized

Trump-Linked Crypto Platform’s $33M Ether Transfer Spurs ETF Staking Hopes

Published

on

Sentiment towards Ethereum’s ether (ETH) has sunk to depressed levels in recent times, but the latest maneuver of President Donald Trump-related crypto platform could spur hope for a reversal.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform linked to the Trump family, this week deposited a total of 10,000 ether (ETH) worth $33 million to liquid staking platform Lido Finance (LDO) to stake and earn rewards, blockchain data by Arkham Intelligence showed. Lido is the largest ether staking platform with $31 billion of assets posted on the platform.

The transactions came after World Liberty Finance acquired more than $110 million worth of crypto assets including ETH, wrapped bitcoin (wBTC), Tron’s TRX, AAVE, LINK and Ethena’s ENA, as CoinDesk reported.

The maneuver raises hopes that regulators will soon allow staking for spot ETH exchange-traded funds. SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce, who now leads the agency’s crypto task force, said last month in an interview with Coinage that she was open to considering staking for ETFs. Former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, known for his anti-crypto stance in the industry, stepped down on January 20 with Trump entering office.

Staking would boost appeal for the investment products, letting investors earn a steady stream of yield on their holdings and reducing product fees. U.S. spot ETH ETFs combined hold $12 billion of assets, according to SoSoValue data.

The potential regulatory approval also could jolt ETH’s price and adjacent ecosystem tokens like Lido’s LDO. Ethereum’s future has been under the microscope recently, amid sagging prices relative to competitors, leadership disputes and worries over the project’s development roadmap. ETH recently dropped to a 4-year low price against bitcoin (BTC) and ceded market share in trading activity to rapidly growing blockchains like Solana.

«I will never trade ETH again after, but watch how quickly the sentiment changes when the staked ETH ETFs come through in the next few weeks,» well-followed crypto trader Pentoshi said.

«ETH will have a multi-week giga pump at some point in 2025, around staking ETF news… If [you’re] too long ETH, that’s when you dump and switch to better performing assets,» said Alex Krüger, partner at Asgard Markets, in an X post.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Ваш адрес email не будет опубликован. Обязательные поля помечены *

Uncategorized

Why Trump’s Tariffs Could Actually Be Good for Bitcoin

Published

on

By

So far, crypto markets haven’t behaved as expected under the Trump Administration. Investors hoped that regulatory reform and policies like a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve would drive prices appreciably higher. But it’s been the opposite. Bitcoin has fallen from highs well above $100,000 at the beginning of the year to a trough in the mid-80,000s for most of March.

Crypto prices have suffered from being increasingly correlated with traditional assets like stocks and bonds, which have been hit by macroeconomic uncertainty. Tariffs — surcharges the U.S. places on imports from other countries — have Wall Street worried about a global recession. Crypto investors have been steering clear of crypto assets, which are seen as relatively risky.

“This is all about markets’ ‘risk appetite’ which continues to deteriorate, and for the time being drives a wedge between crypto assets and gold, which continues to be the ‘safe haven’ of choice,” said Marc Ostwald, Chief Economist & Global Strategist at ADM Investor Services International.

“[That’s] in no small part driven by central bank FX reserve managers, who are seeking to reduce USD exposure, which has long been a source of concern to them.”

As the global financial and trade system becomes more fragmented, investors are seeking alternatives to riskier assets, including dollars. For now, that means turning to gold, which is up 18% year-to-date.

But that could change, said Omid Malekan, an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School and author of «The Story of the Blockchain: A Beginner’s Guide to the Technology That Nobody Understands.» Bitcoin could be the new gold soon enough.

“I think the entire [future] is uncertain and in some ways unknowable, because there are many crosscurrents and both crypto and tariffs are new. Some people argue that crypto is just a risk-on tech asset and would sell off due to tariffs. But bitcoin has found footing in some circles as ‘digital gold’ and the physical variety is soaring on the tariff news. So which will it be?”

In other words, economic uncertainty could lead investors to seek out bitcoin just as they have sought out gold in recent months.

Another note of positivity: the impact of tariffs on crypto could be “priced in” and the worst might be over already, said Zach Pandl, head of research at Grayscale, a leading crypto asset management firm.

President Trump is due to announce U.S. tariffs on Wednesday, April 2, at 4 p.m. ET—what’s known as “Liberation Day.” According to reports, he’ll lay out “reciprocal tariffs” against 15 countries that have levied tariffs against the U.S., including China, Canada and Mexico.

Pandl estimates tariffs have so far taken 2% off economic growth this year. But Liberation Day might actually stop the worst of the pain felt in financial markets. “If we see an announcement [on Wednesday] that is tough but phased, and focused on the 15 countries they seem to be targeting, my expectation is that markets will rally on that news,” Pandl told CoinDesk.

“Potentially once we get through this announcement, crypto markets can focus back on the fundamentals which are very positive.”Pandl said announcements like Circle’s IPO wouldn’t be happening if institutions didn’t have a high degree of confidence in the digital assets sector and the policies around it.

Moreover, Pandl, a former macro-economist at Goldman Sachs, believes that tariffs will increase the appetite for currencies that aren’t dollars.

“I think tariffs will weaken the dominant role of the dollar and create space for competitors including bitcoin. Prices have gone down in the short run. But the first few months of the Trump Administration have raised my conviction in the longer term for bitcoin as a global monetary asset.”

Pendl still believes that bitcoin will hit new all-time highs this year, despite current pessimism around prices. “I wouldn’t have quit my Wall Street job if I didn’t think bitcoin will be the winner in the long term,” he said.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Stablecoin Giant Circle Files for IPO

Published

on

By

Circle, the U.S.-based stablecoin issuer, is going public.

The firm filed an S-1 form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday. If approved, the company’s stock will be trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol «CRCL.»

The company said its reserve income from managing its stablecoin-related reserves was $1.7 billion at the end of 2024, representing 99.1% of its total revenue.

Circle is behind USDC, the second largest stablecoin by market capitalization, with $60 billion in supply. The firm’s IPO has been one of the most anticipated in crypto.

It’s not the only crypto-adjacent company looking to go public. Artificial Intelligence (AI) firm CoreWeave (CRWV), which benefits from a strong business relationship with bitcoin mining firm Core Scientific (CORZ), started trading on the public market on March 28.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

GameStop Has $1.5B of Bitcoin Buying Power After Closing Convertible Note Sale

Published

on

By

Bitcoin (BTC) purchases from video game retailer GameStop (GME) could be imminent or may have already begun after the company closed on its offering of $1.3 billion of five-year convertible notes.

The $200 million greenshoe option was fully exercised by the initial purchaser, bringing the total amount of the sale to $1.5 billion. Net proceeds to the company after fees were $1.48 billion, according to a filing Monday after the close of U.S. trading.

Alongside its fourth quarter earnings report last week, GameStop — led by its CEO Ryan Cohen — announced full board approval of an update to the company investment policy to add bitcoin to the GME balance sheet.

GME shares rose 1.35% during the regular session on Monday and are up another 0.8% in after hours action. Bitcoin remains modestly higher over the past 24 hours at $84,900.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2017 Zox News Theme. Theme by MVP Themes, powered by WordPress.