opinion

Crypto SWOT: Bitcoin climbed to the highest level since early May

Kitco Media
By Frank E Holmes
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Strengths

  • Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the best performer for the week was PEPE, up 72.49%.
  • Bitcoin’s boost from Blackrock’s ETF filing struggled to hold the $27,000 level on Tuesday. The company filed for a Bitcoin ETF on June 15, but so far, the SEC has resisted allowing spot funds, writes Bloomberg.

  • Bitcoin climbed to the highest level since early May this week, writes Bloomberg, buoyed by crypto initiatives involving major players from the traditional financial sector.  

Weaknesses

  • Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the worst performer for the week was BitTorrent, down 10.39%.
  • Bitcoin miners in Texas curbed operations, crimping power usage, as a heat wave drove electricity prices sky-high on Tuesday, reports Bloomberg, threatening to cripple the grid in the second largest U.S. state.  
  • The digital-asset firm BitGo Holdings has dropped plans to acquire the parent company of Prime Trust, reports Bloomberg, which served as the crypto custodian for the beleaguered Binance.US trading platform.

Opportunities

  • Singapore’s central bank has proposed a common protocol to specify conditions for the usage of digital currencies as financial institutions trial the use of purpose-bound money in the city-state, writes Bloomberg.
  • MakerDAO, one of the original decentralized-finance protocols that was set up to challenge the legacy banking system, purchased $700 million of short-term U.S. treasuries. This is its second purchase in eight months as part of a plan to diversify away from often volatile digital assets, writes Bloomberg.
  • Sportswear maker Puma and pro basketball player LaMelo Ball, together with fashion line Gutter Cat Gang, are launching a collection of non-fungible token (NFT) sneakers called “GutterMelo MB.03,” writes Bloomberg.  

Threats

  • Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon, the entrepreneur who’s sought by the U.S. and South Korea on fraud charges, was sentenced to four months in prison by a Montenegrin court, writes Bloomberg, for attempting to travel with a forged passport.
  • Binance has hired a former prosecutor at the Department of Justice to represent the firm in the SEC lawsuit, reports Bloomberg. M. Kendall Day will appear in the SEC case as counsel for Binance, the filing explains.
  • Cryptocurrency platform Atomic Wallet’s weak cybersecurity failed to prevent North Korean hackers from stealing over $100 million in user funds, according to a proposed class action filed in Colorado federal court, writes Bloomberg.
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Frank E Holmes

Frank Holmes is CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors, Inc., a boutique investment advisory firm based in San Antonio that manages domestic and offshore funds specializing in the natural resources and emerging markets sectors. The company’s no-load mutual funds include the Global Resources Fund (ticker PSPFX), the World Precious Minerals Fund (UNWPX) and the Gold Shares Fund (USERX).

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Frank Holmes
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