Investors are paying a 515% premium to buy Ether through the Grayscale Ethereum Trust. It costs $90.55 to buy a share in Grayscale Investments’ Ethereum Trust (ETHE), however its Ether holdings per share are currently worth just $16.10. That means it’s five times more expensive to buy Ether via the trust than on the open market. 04/09/20 UPDATE: Net Assets Under Management, Holdings per Share, and Market Price per Share for our Investment Products. Total AUM: $2.5 billion$BTC $BCH $ETH $ETC $ZEN $LTC $XLM $XRP $ZEC pic.twitter.com/S68eNk8tEN — Grayscale (@GrayscaleInvest) April 9, 2020 While the ETHE premium goes up and …

Lately, it seems that most major national banks are toying with the notion of a national digital currency. France is conducting tests of its own now, and it could pave the way for a digital euro. What will France’s experiments involve, and how will they affect the crypto ecosystem? Here’s what is known so far. According to a document it published on March 30, the Bank of France is on the hunt for a central bank digital currency that can ease interbank settlements. To find one, the institution has called on Europe’s finest, inviting applicants — institutional or otherwise — …

Amid the apparent ongoing collapse in decentralized finance (DeFi) lending, a group of major trading and cryptocurrency companies in the United States are launching an alliance to support the sector. Introduced on April 7, the Chicago DeFi Alliance (CDA) aims to provide DeFi-focused startups and entrepreneurs with support and guidance in complying with trading regulations and other applicable requirements. Chicago DeFi Alliance to share its expertise to boost DeFi liquidity and markets According to a blog post by crypto fund Volt Capital, a founding member the CDA initiative, the alliance also includes major brokerage firm TD Ameritrade, crypto investment firms …

According to NASA, the World Meteorological Organization and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce, the last 10 years leading up to the end of 2019, as well as the last winter, has been confirmed as the warmest decade on record. Yet, nature produced another warning for humanity in Australia with the severe 2019–2020 bushfire season that led to the burning of 21% of the country’s forested area. With the devastating coronavirus pandemic spreading across the globe and disrupting the way we live our lives, this gives us an indication of …

Just one week after exchange Binance announced its acquisition of CoinMarketCap (CMC) — one of the most-referenced crypto data websites — some prominent figures in the crypto community are speaking out. Bobby Ong, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of CoinGecko, gave an interview to My Two Gwei on April 6. Among the topics discussed was the crypto data website’s $400 million acquisition and the role it may play in the future. Ong highlighted his company to “uphold data integrity” in the face of “many new exchanges… faking their volume.” One of the targets of the COO during his interview …

With ongoing talks of Central Bank Digital Currencies and now even a possible digital dollar, tokenization continues to be a hot topic both in the crypto world and in traditional finance. It’s been a buzzword in the financial industry for a while now, and the concept is being explored by startups, established institutions and governments alike, through centralized and decentralized blockchain technology. As the world of tokenization marches on, some questions have been raised from technological, financial and regulatory standpoints. Here is a deep look into tokenization, how it will impact the financial markets, and what challenges it currently faces …

In an interview with Morgan Creek Digital founder, Anthony Pompliano, Chamath Palihapitiya, billionaire CEO of venture capital firm, Social Capital, said that now could be Bitcoin’s time to shine. “I think Bitcoin needed a moment like this for it to be relevant,” Palihapitiya said. “It’s still a speculative instrument, and it’s too speculative for it to be reliable,” he explained. Bitcoin is still too turbulent In his interview with Pompliano, Palihapitiya talked about a bevy of topics pertaining to the current global economy. In terms of replacing USD or other global currencies, Palihapitiya explained Bitcoin is still too volatile. “The …

As the world’s supervisory agencies start to heed the crypto guidelines of the Financial Action Task Force, a new regulatory landscape is taking shape within the crypto industry. The latest country to annex the FATF directives is Canada, but how will the new rules impact crypto business in the country? In a report released March 10, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center of Canada, or FINTRAC, unveiled plans for an “enhanced AML regime.” Come June 1, 2020, FINTRAC will treat all crypto firms as money service business, or MSB. This will place added scrutiny on cryptocurrency transfers, customer identification …

As the first MakerDAO debt auction draws to a close, March 23, a total of $4.3 million worth of undercollateralized Dai (DAI) has been bid across both phases, and will be burned. But those bidders who waited for the second phase bagged the best deals, with some winners paying 24% less per Maker (MKR) token than the highest bidders in phase one. Bargains to be had in the second phase of the auction Opening offers on each of the 86 total lots were to receive 250 Maker tokens for fixed bids of 50,000 Dai. Subsequent bids then reduced the amount …

A report published by research firm CB Insights has found that equity funding has dramatically overtaken initial coin offerings (ICOs) as the dominant means of finance in the blockchain space. While the largely unregulated ICO boom of 2018 raised $7.8 billion, initial coin offering funding fell more than 95% to raise $371 million in 2019. By contrast, equity funding raised $2.8 billion last year. The report also notes the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi), noting that there are currently more than $1 billion in assets on DeFi platforms — up from $300 million as of January 2019. Crypto firms are …

U.S.-headquartered bank Citi has upped its investment in the Ethereum-based decentralized trade financing startup Komgo. Kris van Broekhoven, the global head of commodity trade finance at Citigroup, revealed that the bank has “topped up” its equity in Komgo “to allow the company to continue developing,” while speaking with ConsenSys on March 10. Komgo was launched in 2018 in partnership with ConsenSys, and seeks to streamline trade financing in the commodities markets. Komgo’s platform allows equities traders, financial institutions, and trade service providers to communicate across blockchain technology. As “one of the largest global trade finance banks in the world,” Broekhoven …

Chainalysis posted their report for the BTC market for March 2020. According to the blockchain and crypto analytics firm, exchanges have experienced a huge inflow of BTC since March 9, receiving nearly 319,000 of the cryptocurrency on March 13 alone. However, between March 12-13, almost nine times the average daily amount of Bitcoin was sent to exchanges to be sold, causing the price to plummet to $3,000s. This represented BTC’s biggest daily drop in the last seven years. Has the price of Bitcoin stabilized for now? Though the volume of crypto inflow remains high — twice the daily average — …