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Crypto SWOT: Nasdaq is seeking approval to launch and trade Bitcoin options

Kitco Media
By Frank E Holmes
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Strengths

  • Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the best performer for the week was Helium, rising 15.49%.
  • German industrial giant Siemens AG said Wednesday that it issued a 300-million-euro ($330 million) digital bond on blockchain rails as part of a European Central Bank (ECB) trial. Major German financial institutions invested in the bond, according to Bloomberg.  
  • Snoop Dogg and filmmaker Robert Rodriguez are asking fans to invest in their upcoming projects, tapping a new way to raise funds for artists, reports Bloomberg. The rapper and the director of Spy Kids have partnered with Republic, an investing platform that has raised $3 billion for companies spanning tech, real estate, gaming, sports and crypto.

Weaknesses

  • Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the worst performer for the week was Beam, down 22.59%.
  • Bitcoin flirted with a one-month low this week, reports Bloomberg, amid a wider retreat from riskier investments in global markets due to fears about the economic outlook. Bitcoin slid more than 4% at one point on Wednesday before paring a part of the decline.

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  • Andreessen Horowitz ditches Miami two years after opening its office. The departure underscores the potential weakness of Miami’s crypto staying power after the city lured a rush of finance and tech companies over the past couple of years, according to an article published by Bloomberg. 

Opportunities

  • Nasdaq is seeking approval to launch and trade Bitcoin options, writes Bloomberg, which follows an announcement by the NYSE earlier this year that was looking to list Bitcoin index options. The proposed Nasdaq Bitcoin Options Index is in partnership with index provider CF benchmarks and would track the CME CF Bitcoin Real Time Index operated on the CME, writes Bloomberg.  
  • Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, said that the company is “very close” to launching its U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin. As reported by Bloomberg, in the previous month, the cross-border payment firm announced that it began testing RLUSD on two blockchain networks.
  • Robot Ventures, an early-stage investor in crypto startups such as EigenLayer, Lido Finance and Flashbots, raised $75 million for its latest venture-capital fund. Crypto venture investing has recovered this year with token prices up significantly since their low point nearly two years ago, writes Bloomberg.  

Threats

  • Decentralized finance protocol Penpie, built on top of tokenized yield platform Pendle, suffered an exploit on Wednesday. The alleged exploiter drained roughly $27 million of crypto assets including various types of stake ether, Ethenas, and wrapped USDC stablecoin from the protocol, according to Bloomberg.  
  • Crypto investment firm Galois Capital Management will pay a $225,000 fine over SEC allegations that it broke rules for safeguarding client assets, reports Bloomberg, including holding some of them in accounts with the now-bankrupt exchange FTX. The SEC, in addition, said Galois misled investors about how much notice they needed to give to redeem funds.
  • The United States CFTC recovered $18 million worth of digital assets tied to an alleged commodity pool Ponzi scheme. Oregon man Sam Ikkurty was accused of defrauding investors from a purported “crypto hedge fund,” reports Bloomberg. Ikkurty promised to return net profits but never did and failed to tell investors that the fund’s performance fell 98.99%.
Kitco Media

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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BitcoincryptoGalois Capital ManagementEuropean Central Bankcryptocurrencies
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