Blockchain news
Crypto Going Public in 2021—Three Crypto Giants Set to Take On Wall Street
As Bitcoin and cryptocurrency continue to rise as an investible asset class, three giants of crypto have announced plans to go public in 2021 and take Wall Street by storm.
With the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic economic meltdown further fueling the rise of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as an investible asset class, three giants of the crypto industry have announced plans to go public in 2021 and take Wall Street by storm.
The crypto industry is finally making the leap to mainstream investment on Wall Street. In 2020, major financial service and payments companies like JPMorgan, PayPal and Mastercard have been creating new avenues for public exposure to Bitcoin and crypto.
Major institutional investors and enterprises such as Microstrategy and MassMutual Insurance have also been allocating serious amounts of capital to Bitcoin and crypto, mainly as a hedge against the weakening dollar and impending inflation due to stimulus payments and unprecedented relief spending of governments around the world.
As cryptocurrency and Bitcoin surge into public and institutional consciousness, three large companies in the crypto space have announced or hinted that they are planning to launch an initial public offerings (IPO) to raise money on public markets.
As the United States Federal Reserve and central banks like the ECB continue to hold interest rates at record lows, the inflation narrative is gaining strength and going public in 2021 could be the tipping point for these crypto firms seeking public listing.
Ripple
In January this year, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse predicted that initial public offerings (IPOs) will become more prevalent in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space in 2020.
While speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on, Jan. 23, Garlinghouse went as far as to hint that Ripple would itself be one of those firms to seek a public flotation. Garlinghouse said at the time:
“In the next 12 months, you’ll see IPOs in the crypto/blockchain space. We’re not going to be the first and we’re not going to be the last, but I expect us to be on the leading side… it’s a natural evolution for our company.”
Unless you have been living under a rock in the crypto-sphere, it goes without saying that Ripple’s plans are currently up in the air with the ongoing Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit against the sale of XRP tokens as unregistered securities.
Unclear regulation towards altcoins like XRP along with its current regulation battle would make it incredibly difficult at this point to gain public confidence for investment into a Ripple IPO.
Coinbase
The most well-publicized and likely planned IPO for 2021 comes from major United States crypto exchange Coinbase.
The long-anticipated Coinbase Initial Public Offering (IPO) was finally filed on Dec.18 and now awaits the review and approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before the filing will be made public.
Coinbase is looking to go public in the coming months and submitted a draft registration (S1) form to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which read:
“Coinbase Global, Inc. today announced that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).
The Coinbase public offering is causing a stir in the markets and Coinbase (CBSE) pre-IPO contracts for the leading United States cryptocurrency exchange is currently trading at a projected valuation of nearly $70 billion dollars on FTX trading—a figure that is equal to three times the total value of the booming decentralized finance (DeFi) market and eclipses the entire marketcap of Ethereum.
Digital Currency Group
Digital Currency Group (DCG)—a conglomerate that owns Grayscale Investments, over-the-counter desk and lender Genesis Global and leading crypto news site Coindesk—is projected to launch its own IPO in 2021.
According to a report from Messari in November this year, a third party that might also soon throw their hat into the crypto firm IPO mix is Digital Currency Group.
While discussions over an IPO have not been raised publicly from DCG’s end, the report crunched down some numbers, which indicated that DCG would present a strong case for a successful IPO.
Owning firms like Grayscale Investments and Genesis Global, Digital Currency Group has built up not only an extremely profitable business but also a good reputation amongst institutional players. This reputation could make an easy sell to raise capital for an IPO in the public markets—but DCG is already a giant and may not even need public funding to succeed.
Messari projects that DCG could be worth over $4 billion should they go public in 2021.
Image source: Shutterstock
Blockchain news
Bitcoin Set to End the Year with a Bang With Biggest Monthly Gain Since May 2019
Bitcoin is on track for its biggest monthly gain since May 2019.
December 2020 will be written in Bitcoin’s history books as the month that saw the leading cryptocurrency shutter the all-time high (ATH) price of $20,000 it set three years ago. It will also serve as the time period when BTC zoomed off to new heights above the $28,500 mark.
Therefore, BTC has enjoyed a rollercoaster ride this month and it is set to close out a banner year with a bang. Market analyst Holger Zschaepitz has taken to Twitter to disclose that this month’s bull run has not been seen since May 2019. He said:
“Bitcoin is on track to close out a banner year with another bang: Cryptocurrency surged >$28k to a record high of $28,572, and is on track for its biggest monthly gain since May 2019 w/+46% in December so far.”
Bitcoin’s momentum is not showing any signs of stopping because it has gained by more than 4.5 percent in the last 24 hours, even though it has slid back to $27,873 at press time. This trend has made a Wall Street veteran and CEO of Real Vision Raoul Pal to stipulate that buying any dip will be of the essence.
Institutional investors have shown their overwhelming appetite for Bitcoin and this is one factor making its price to go through the roof. Earlier this month, leading business intelligence firm MicroStrategy purchased BTC valued at $650 million. Furthermore, GrayScale, an institutional-grade digital asset manager, revealed that its total asset under management (AUM) stood at $19 billion with the bulk being Bitcoin at $16.3 billion.
Bitcoin is, therefore, scheduled to end the year on a high, given that it has surged by more than 295% so far in 2020 even though it lost nearly 50% of its value back in March as the Covid-19 pandemic nearly brought the world to a halt.
Image source: Shutterstock
Bitcoin’s momentum is not showing any signs of stopping because it has gained by more than 4.5 percent in the last 24 hours, even though it has slid back to $27,873 at press time. This trend has made a Wall Street veteran and CEO of Real Vision Raoul Pal to stipulate that buying any dip will be of the essence.
Blockchain news
Atlético Madrid, AS Roma and OG Crypto Fan Token Prices Plunge Following Binance Listing
Champion Esports team OG (OG), Atlético Madrid (ATM) and AS Roma (ASR) crypto fan token prices have begun to plunge immediately after being listed on Binance.
Champion Esports team OG (OG), Atlético Madrid (ATM) and AS Roma (ASR) crypto fan token prices have begun to plunge immediately after being listed on Binance.
Binance has officially listed the ATM and OG and ASR fan tokens on its global exchange which has seen all three tokens dip in value within moments.
Less than two hours before the launch of the tokens, Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO of Socios.com tweeted his excitement:
“90 minutes before history day of listing 3 tokens at the same time on @binance.”
Around thirty minutes prior to the three new fan token listing on Binance— OG, ASR and ATM were already surging as traders anticipated the Binance launch. OG Fan Token had gained 29% in the 24 hrs before with a price of $18.97, while in the same period ASR was up 12.5% at the price of $24.17 and ATM was up 12.75% and priced at $27.03 according to CoinMarketCap.
Following today’s listing on Binance, however, all three fan tokens listed today saw immediate decreases in price.
Thirty minutes after launching on the global cryptocurrency exchange OG token dropped 18% to a price of $12.27; ASR price plunged 32.88% to $13.87 ,and ATM fell 21.37% to a price $18.27.
While the fan tokens have only been available on Binance for less than an hour at the time of writing, the price action is no doubt disappointing as many traders were expecting similar price action to the recent listing of crypto fan tokens of football giants Juventus and Paris St-Germain which both made immediate gains
What are Fan Tokens?
The Atlético Madrid (ATM) and AS Roma (ASR) Fan Tokens both have a total token supply of 10,000,000 fan tokens, but what are they exactly?
These fan tokens are utility tokens that gives Atletico Madrid and AS Roma Football Club fans a tokenized share of influence on club decisions using Socios application and services. Socios.com is an app for football (soccer) fans, where users can acquire voting rights to influence the clubs they support by acquiring club-specific Fan tokens.
Fan tokens are a form of tokenized asset, that represents proof of ownership or even membership for holders. As tokens are already being used for a wide range of purposes, many specialized blockchains have been developed with native intent to support tokens, the most common of which is currently Ethereum and their ERC standard tokens.
Chiliz ($CHZ) is an ERC20 utility token on the Ethereum blockchain that serves as the digital currency for the chiliZ and Socios.com platform. In launching their platform, alongside other sports blockchain ventures, a new category of token has emerged — the Fan Token. Once onboard the Socios.com platform, yet to-be-announced club partners host what has been called a Fan Token Offering (FTO). Fans must purchase $CHZ via a cryptocurrency exchange in order to acquire Fan Tokens. These tokens — which are specific to a team or club — are a finite, digital asset that provide access to an encrypted ledger of voting and membership rights ownership.
Image source: Shutterstock
Blockchain news
Ethereum Whales’ on Exchanges Continue to Shrink, Addresses with at Least 0.01 ETH Coins Hit ATH
Ethereum whales’ holdings on crypto exchanges are diminishing, suggesting that they are being moved to cold wallets.
The top two cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have enjoyed a rollercoaster ride by hitting record highs not seen in the recent past. ETH’s bull run has seen it go past the $700 price ceiling it last hit in May 2018 and is currently trading at $716 at press time.
Ethereum has been a significant catalyst of the boom witnessed in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector because its blockchain network is one of the most sought after in this field. The holding culture continues to engulf ETH based on statistics availed by crypto market insight provider Santiment. The data firm noted:
“The top 100 largest Ethereum exchange addresses continue to shrink, in terms of ETH tokens held on exchanges. This continued decline of whale holdings that can be publicly sold is a further encouraging current development for the #2 market cap asset.”
This information reveals that Ethereum whales’ holdings on crypto exchanges are diminishing, suggesting that they are being moved to cold wallets. This trend indicates that ETH whales’ confidence is growing based on the long-term value of this digital currency based on some developments like the launch of Ethereum 2.0, which introduces the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.
Glassnode has also revealed that the number of ETH addresses with more than 0.01 coins has broken the record. The on-chain data provider acknowledged:
“Number of Ethereum addresses holding 0.01+ coins just reached an ATH of 10,596,843.”
This information coupled with the fact that the open interest for ETH futures soared to a record-high of $2.21 billion recently, shows the second cryptocurrency based on market capitalization is being favoured as an ideal investment tool.
Furthermore, Ethereum’s surge past the crucial psychological barrier of $700 is seen as a side effect of the bullish momentum of Bitcoin, which brought altcoins higher as it recorded a new all-time high of more than $28,000 on Christmas weekend.
Image source: Shutterstock
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