Bitcoin Price Defends Critical Level as Fees Plummet, Transactions Surge
Published Sam Bourgi
Bitcoin’s price may have stagnated through the early part of 2019, but underlying fundamentals show the market has turned a corner with respect to fees and transactions. As Diar recently pointed out, bitcoin fees plunged to four-year lows in January, while transactions hit their highest levels since 2017. BTC/USD Update
In terms of price action, bitcoin has shown very little upside this week. At last check, the digital currency was trading at $3,557.27 on Bitstamp, where it was virtually unchanged compared with Wednesday. As we reported on Wednesday, the BTC/USD exchange rate is struggling to overcome the 50-day moving average.
Momentum has improved somewhat, with the relative strength index (RSI) crossing the 50 mark.
Aggregate data from CoinMarketCaps show an average price of $3,619.
32. That average is skewed higher by exchanges like Bitfinex, where bitcoin trades at a significant premium compared to other platforms.
More than $6.4 billion worth of bitcoin traded hands on virtual exchanges Thursday, maintaining a high flow of turnover since last week. BitMEX, a popular derivatives exchange, was the largest market. At 8.8% of the daily turnover, its share has declined in the last 4 hours. Spot exchanges account for the remaining volume.
Bitcoin’s volatility index has declined further this week, and on Wednesday reached its lowest level in three months. The 30-day volatility index dropped to 1.97%, according to bitvol.info. That’s the lowest since the bitcoin cash-induced selloff that began on Nov. 14. Fees Plunge, Transactions Rise
As bitcoin’s price has stagnated, its underlying fundamentals have improved, according to Diar, a weekly cryptocurrency publication.
In the Feb.
11 edition of its weekly reports, Diar said, “Bitcoin transactions hit a one-year high last month nearing levels seen in the 2017 ramp up to the price boom.” At the same time, median fees have reached “levels not seen since 2015 despite the total monthly bitcoins moved on-chain standing at higher levels than seen throughout most of 2018.”
Improving fundamentals have caused some to speculate that the bitcoin whales are gearing up for the next bull run. Diar’s report comes at a time when bitcoin’s most ardent supporters are doubling down on their prediction of a future price breakout.
On Wednesday, former Goldman Sachs executive and Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz said bitcoin will eventually become “digital gold” thanks to institutional demand. Last week, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey told the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that bitcoin will “probably” become the internet’s native currency in ten years’ time.
Disclaimer: The author owns Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. He holds investment positions in the coins, but does not engage in short-term or day-trading.
Featured image courtesy of Shutterstock. Important: Never invest (trade with) money you can’t afford to comfortably lose. Always do your own research and due diligence before placing a trade. Read our Terms & Conditions here .
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Loading… Sam Bourgi 4.7 stars on average, based on 771 rated posts Chief Editor to Hacked.com and Contributor to CCN.
com, Sam Bourgi has spent the past nine years focused on economics, markets and cryptocurrencies.
His work has been featured in and cited by some of the world’s leading newscasts, including Barron’s, CBOE and Forbes. Avid crypto watchers and those with a libertarian persuasion can follow him on twitter at @hsbourgi
You must be logged in to post a comment Login Leave a Reply How You Could Profit From The Fairfax County Investment In Morgan Creek Digital
Published Justin OConnell
Morgan Creek Digital recently scored what it says is probably the first investment in the known crypto asset universe from a U.S. pension fund.
Two pension plans in Fairfax County, Virginia are anchor investors in a new $40 million venture-capital fund, according to a statement from the company. Other investors include an insurance company, a university endowment and a private foundation, said Morgan Creek Digital founder Anthony Pompliano, who declined to provide further details.
Fairfax County Retirement Systems manages three separate defined benefit plans, two of which invested in the Morgan Creek Digital fund, said Pompliano.
Katherine Molnar, chief investment officer of one of the funds said in a statement that blockchain technology is an “emerging opportunity” that offers an “attractive asymmetric return profile.’’
Morgan Creek Digital, which is an affiliate of the investment manager Morgan Creek Capital Management LLC, exceeded its original target of $25 million for the fund. Its pitch: all traditional assets will eventually be represented by digital tokens, while the influx of intellectual capital into digital assets will create positive returns. It also argues that cryptocurrencies are not correlated to traditional assets, giving investors unique exposures.
The fund created by Morgan Creek Digital in New York is investing in cryptocurrency giant Coinbase, which was recently valued at $8 billion, and several lesser-known startups, including Blockfi, RealBlocks, TrustToken, Harbor, Open Finance Network, CityBlock Capital, Namebase, Good Money and Digital Assets Data. As much as $4 million of the investment could eventually be used to purchase cryptocurrency directly, though that has not happened yet.
This sort of development is crucial for the digital asset markets to evolve. Let’s take a closer look at Morgan Creek Digital’s other blockchain companies, and see if there might be equity or token opportunities.
CityBlock Capital
CityBlock Capital offered a digital security token sale on the SharesPost platform, representing perhaps the lowest-barrier investment opportunity for someone looking to tag onto the Fairfax County investment in Morgan Creek Digital.
CityBlock’s NYCQ Blockchain Infrastructure Fund invests in companies building blockchain-based capital markets infrastructure. From the instantaneous settlement of trades, elimination of intermediaries, and the reduction of fraud, the fund’s portfolio companies include clearing houses, exchanges, depositories, makers of market aggregation tools, securities services firms, data analytics, smart contract auditors, and issuance platforms. Its focus is early-stage firms, with ten percent of its funds going to late-stage companies.
CityBlock’s digital tokens are designed to represent ownership interests in the fund. Investors will be able to buy and sell these assets on SharesPost’s Alternative Trading System (ATS), which is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
TrustToken
If you’re looking for a stablecoin, this Morgan Creek Digital-backed option might be a nice tool to escape crypto-volatility. TrustToken’s first token is TrueUSD , a stablecoin redeemable one-to-one for U.S. dollars. Over its initial four months of trading, the coin’s market increased to $85 million as investors look for stability in the unstable world of crypto.
The token has a $61 million hard cap on the token allocated over three tranches of $0.12, $0.14 and $0.16 per trust token.
In the TrueUSD system, dollars are kept in the escrow accounts of multiple trust companies, not a bank account. Those accounts verified by an independent third party that issues monthly reports on the funds held in collateral. Blockfi
In need of liquidity and have a lot of crypto you could put up as collateral? Blockfi is now operating in the US, and could be the business solution you need.
BlockFi is a New York-based secured non-bank lender of USD loans to cryptoasset owners who collateralize the loan with cryptoassets.
Blockfi iquidity is available to both individuals and institutions. Client Bitcoin and Ether is held with a registered custodian. Loans are issued in USD to their bank account.
BlockFi currently operates in 35 US States, lending to retail investors and companies. It raised approximately $1.
5 million in seed funding earlier this year from ConsenSys Ventures, SoFI and Kenetic Capital, followed by Galaxy Digital Ventures investment of $52.5 million. $50 million, the lion’s share of the capital, will be used to loan to BlockFi’s customers. The remaining $2.5 million represents an equity investment in the company from Galaxy and earlier backers. Namebase
Namebase offers probably the most unique idea in which Morgan Creek Digital invests.
This platform enables the registration of top-level domains on the Handshake blockchain. As a fork of Bitcoin, Handshake allows users to register domain names. Registration records are maintained by a decentralized network of nodes. Handshake is compatible with the existing domain name system.
It is easily integrated with mainstream browsers.
Handshake uses the Bitcoin software with some extra transaction types allowing users to bid on names on-chain. Handshake forked everything about the Bitcoin node software while not forking the UTXO set, like in the case of Zcash. The Handshake project plans to distribute 70% of the coin supply to open source developers, projects, and non-profits without any contractual expectation of work. Bakkt
The Bakkt Bitcoin Daily Future is a physically delivered daily futures contract on Bitcoin traded in BTC/USD.
It’s still subject to regulatory approval, but ICE plans for them to be traded on its electronic trading platform which is regulated by the CFTC. ICE Clearing US, the main counterparty for all ICE cleared forex futures trades, will clear and guarantee all trades, to be settled in physically delivered Bitcoin “in the regulated Bakkt Warehouse.”
Bakkt raised $18.2 million to develop a global digital assets platform and a bitcoin futures product. Owned by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which in turn is owned by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Bakkt’s investors include Boston Consulting Group, Galaxy Digital, Goldfinch Partners, ICE, M12 (Microsoft’s VC fund), Pantera Capital and Protocol Ventures. Digital Assets Data
This financial technology and data company build enterprise-grade software and data feeds for crypto hedge funds and other market participants. The companies data, information and transparency tools will be applied to crypto assets, including currencies, platforms, applications, side chains, security tokens, and initial coin offers (ICOs) through subscription services offered to hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Harbor
While companies like Polymath stole much of security token show in early 2018, Harbor’s blockchain-based platform and compliance protocol has also been built to transform private securities like commercial real estate offerings an investment funds into more liquid forms of private investment.
This institutional-grade onramp for issuers and investors is an end-to-end service. Investor on-boarding to the platform encompasses KYC, AML, accreditation and tax forms, signing of documents, funding, and other tasks.
The Harbor compliance protocol manages complex rules and regulations governing securities on issuance and secondary transfers.
Open Finance Network
Created in 2014, The OpenFinance Network (OFN) uses blockchain technology to create an U.S. regulated security token platform. “We wanted to give users the control over their funds.
Since with security tokens, there is a lot of overhead holding tokens on a centralized platform. So to put capital to better use, we went with self-custody. We are not entirely decentralized though, and we think this is attractive to all types of users.”
Open Finance Network is comprised of the ledger, the token and the adaptors. Open Finance’s a global registry of assets that are represented by security tokens as well as entities such as broker-dealers, transfer agents, custodians or escrow agents that can be used on different security token processes. Good Money
Good Money is a new type of banking platform founded by Gunnar Lovelace. When a new customer signs up with Good Money, they receive an equity share – in other words, they become co-owners. Lovelace says customers could hold as much as 70% one day.
Good Money operates similar to a credit union, which are non-profits, and offers members no ATM or overdraft fees. 50% of its profits are invested into green projects and charitable donations. The platform’s customers vote on where profits should be invested, but the options will only include sustainable investments, like clean energy and reforestation efforts. RealBlocks
RealBlocks is creating a real estate capital markets platform designed to connect users globally so they can more easily raise capital for real estate. Built on the Ethereum blockchain, the platform allows organizations to raise capital through the issuance of tokenized securities.
On the platform, investors can directly purchase ownership interest in real estate with digital and fiat currencies. The platform also claims to provide a mechanism for peer-to-peer liqudity. According to RealBlocks, “anyone in the world is now able to directly invest, raise capital, and obtain liquidity for investments in real estate.
” The platform also provides a mechanism for peer-to-peer liquidity. By using RealBlocks , anyone in the world is now able to directly invest, raise capital, and obtain liquidity for investments in real estate. Conclusion
“There’s a belief in the institutional world that if the industry will be around for a long time, it will be very valuable,’’ Pompliano said in a phone interview. “The smart money is not distracted by price but looks at the long-term trends, and believes they’re betting on innovation as a great way to deliver risk-mitigated returns.
’’
Today, even police officers and other state employees in Virginia’s Fairfax County are now looking forward to retirement with potential dividends from bitcoin. Two separate pension funds that collectively manage $5.1 billion in assets for the state’s police force and other employees have joined a $40 million investment in the Morgan Creek Blockchain Opportunities Fund.
If you look at the startups in which Morgan Creek Digital is invested, there are few token options.
Using TrueUSD to hedge your crypto-investments offers one opportunity to augment your investment strategy. More interestingly, the CityBlock Capital security token represents an alternative to other VC-backed securities tokens, such as Blockchain Capital’s BCAP. Important: Never invest (trade with) money you can’t afford to comfortably lose. Always do your own research and due diligence before placing a trade. Read our Terms & Conditions here . Trade recommendations and analysis are written by our analysts which might have different opinions. Read my 6 Golden Steps to Financial Freedom here . Best regards, Jonas Borchgrevink.
Rate this post: Important for improving the service. Please add a comment in the comment field below explaining what you rated and why you gave it that rate. Failed Trade Recommendations should not be rated as that is considered a failure either way. ( 0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5 ) You need to be a registered member to rate this. Loading… Justin OConnell 5 stars on average, based on 2 rated posts Justin O’Connell is the founder of financial technology focused CryptographicAsset.com.
Justin organized the launch of the largest Bitcoin ATM hardware and software provider in the world at the historical Hotel del Coronado in southern California. His works appear in the U.S.’s third largest weekly, the San Diego Reader, VICE and elsewhere.
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