Welcome to the latest edition of Cointelegraph’s decentralized finance newsletter. ETH is burning at a rapid rate! Read on to discover the statistics behind Ethereum’s pursuit of deflationary mechanics. What you’re about to read is a shorter, more succinct version of the newsletter. For a comprehensive summary of DeFi’s developments over the last week, subscribe below. $4.24 billion in ETH burned since EIP-1559 event Blockchain analytics platform CryptoRank shared quantitative data this week that revealed an excess of 1 million Ether (ETH), worth approximately $4.24 billion, has been burned since August’s implementation of the Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559. Also referred …

Crypto investment giant Grayscale has published a bullish report on the Metaverse, estimating that the “market opportunity” for bringing the Metaverse to the mainstream may be worth over $1 trillion in the next few years. The November report titled “The Metaverse, Web 3.0 Virtual Cloud Economies” was authored by Grayscale Head of research David Grider and research analyst Matt Maximo. The duo explores the burgeoning sector primarily from the perspective of open Metaverse worlds backed by an “interconnected crypto-economy” such as Decentraland. The report highlights that Metaverse platforms integrated with crypto tokens, decentralized finance (DeFi) services such as staking and …

Investment funds from major U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley have increased their exposure to Bitcoin through purchases of shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. According to filings from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 23, the Morgan Stanley Insight Fund increased its holdings of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, or GBTC, shares more than 63%, from 928,051 in the second quarter of 2021 to 1,520,549 as of Sept. 30. In addition, filings on the firm’s Growth Portfolio show it holding 3,642,118 GBTC shares in the third quarter of 2021, an increase of 71% when compared with 2,130,153 shares as of …

On Thursday, the Digital Currency Group (DCG) announced that it has raised $600 million in a new credit facility, making its debut into the debt capital markets. The debt funding round was led by private equity firm Eldridge. The company stated that the increase, which provides DCG with a credit facility enabling it to draw on as needed, "enhances DCG's strategic, operational, and financial capabilities" by lowering its cost of capital and boosting the development of its investment portfolio and fully owned enterprises. Another US$600m for @LunoGlobal parentco @DCGco to help us upgrade the world to a better financial system. …

Bitcoin (BTC) an altcoin investment firm Grayscale now has more assets under management (AUM) than the world's biggest gold fund. According to the latest data from issuer Grayscale, Grayscale now controls over $60 billion — $1.7 billion more than leading gold fund, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD). Praise for Grayscale, futures ETFs Grayscale's flagship Bitcoin product, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), meanwhile contains over 646,000 BTC, worth around $41.75 billion as of Nov. 11. The figures add to the debate over gold as a store of value and inflation hedge versus Bitcoin, as inflation cuts through the U.S. and global economies. …

Digital Currency Group (DCG), one of the largest companies in the cryptocurrency industry, has completed a major secondary investment round led by Japanese financial giant SoftBank. DCG has sold $700 million worth of shares to companies like Google’s parent company, Alphabet, to bring its valuation to more than $10 billion, the company officially announced Monday. “Proud to welcome SoftBank, CapitalG, Ribbit, GIC, Tribe and Emory to an already fantastic list of DCG shareholders. And even more proud of over 1,000 employees of DCG and our wholly-owned subsidiaries that made this happen,” DCG CEO and founder Barry Silbert said. In a …

Grayscale could launch its Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) as soon as July 2022, one of its executives has said. Speaking at a virtual event organized by MarketWatch on Oct. 27, Grayscale’s global head of ETFs, David LaValle, gave a nine-month timeline for approval by U.S. regulators. Grayscale: Now's the time to file for ETF Grayscale, which runs the largest-volume Bitcoin investment product globally, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), reiterated this month that it is “committed” to transforming it into an ETF. According to LaValle, the timing for submitting the application to do so this week was ideal. “We thought …

Bitcoin (BTC) investment vehicle the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) outperformed the newly-launched exchange-traded funds (ETFs) last week, data shows. Figures shared by Grayscale executives among others confirm that GBTC quietly delivered better investor returns since Oct. 19. Grayscale "discount" hits one-month lows While talk continues to revolve around Bitcoin futures ETFs and their market impact, industry stalwart Grayscale is biting back. Amid claims that the newly-launched funds are sucking custom away from GBTC, the firm's chiefs were quick to note that the latter was in fact a better bet since launch day. Over the seven days to Monday, GBTC returned …

According to an announcement issued on Wednesday, DCG is now authorized to buy up to $1 billion worth of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). This development extends DCG’s prior authorization by $250 million if they choose to do so. Indeed, DCG has so far purchased $338 million in GBTC, according to the company’s announcement on Wednesday. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, DCG had purchased $193.5 million worth of GBTC shares back in May 2021. At the time, the firm’s GBTC purchase limit stood at $250 million. As part of the announcement, DCG revealed that it plans to use cash on hand …

Institutional asset manager Grayscale has announced it will be converting its GBTC Trust into an exchange-traded fund (ETF) once the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has “comfort” with recently-approved Bitcoin futures ETFs. In a Monday Twitter thread, Grayscale communications director Jennifer Rosenthal said the asset manager would proceed with offering an ETF when “the SEC has formally expressed their requisite comfort with the underlying Bitcoin market.” The offering would convert the asset manager’s Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), first listed in 2013, into an ETF. “Once there’s official and verifiable evidence of the SEC’s comfort with the underlying Bitcoin …

Institutional investment giant Grayscale is reportedly considering converting its Bitcoin Trust into a physically settled exchange-traded fund (ETF). On Sunday, Barry Silbert, CEO of Grayscale’s parent company, Digital Currency Group, hinted that Grayscale is making plans to convert its Bitcoin Trust into a spot-settled Bitcoin (BTC) fund. After having taken to Twitter to criticize the cash-settled Bitcoin futures ETF recently approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Bitcoin commentator Preston Pysh chimed in to ask Silbert when Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust would be converted into a BTC-settled ETF. “Stay tuned,” Silbert responded. stay tuned — Barry Silbert (@BarrySilbert) October …

Institutional investors are pivoting back to digital gold with Bitcoin (BTC) investment products posting a third consecutive week of inflows. According to CoinShares’ latest “Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly” report, BTC investment products generated $68.7 million worth of inflows between Sept. 27 and Friday, representing a 36% increase in exposure week-over-week. While products tracking BTC have now dominated inflows to digital asset products for two weeks in a row, the bullish turn comes fresh off a record streak of outflows that persisted for eight consecutive weeks until early September. Total inflows for digital investment products were $90 million for the …