Global Crypto News by Killerwhale
Welcome to the Global Crypto News hub! Articles by Killerwhale go over the news you may have missed that involves crypto, but had a real world effect. Sit back, relax, and enjoy! News is gathered throughout the week and posted every Saturday!
Spot Bitcoin ETFs: A Catalyst for Institutional Adoption?
The emergence of proposals for spot Bitcoin ETFs has triggered a significant change in institutional financial organizations' public positions on digital assets. Financial institutions are shedding light on cryptocurrencies through public appearances, calling interest in the assets a "flight to quality."
As Bitcoin reaches its annual high, speculation is rife about a future Bitcoin ETF announced by BlackRock. This speculation is backed by numbers, as open interest in the CME Bitcoin product, a major indicator of institutional appetite, recently reached an all-time high of over 100,000 bitcoins, valued at some $3.4 billion.
The first exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States to invest directly in spot Bitcoin may soon receive approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which could lead to fresh investment in the cryptocurrency.
Despite SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's concerns about the lack of regulatory oversight and surveillance in crypto markets, the SEC has said it will not appeal a court decision from August that could allow the $18.4 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to become an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Gensler could still find a second reason to deny the proposal, as an approval could be seen as a surrender given his string of losses in the fight against digital currencies.
Some experts expect the SEC to approve at least one spot Bitcoin ETF by the end of the year. However, uncertainty remains, as asset managers have failed to persuade the SEC to approve a Bitcoin ETF nearly 30 times in the past.
However, a BlackRock analyst recently said in an interview that "any rejection could trigger lawsuits against the SEC, creating more legal troubles for the agency." The SEC has suffered some high-profile losses in court over similar rejections in recent weeks, and may be unable to face the legal repercussions of rejecting spot Bitcoin ETF applications at this point.
Source: nasdaq.com, am.jpmorgan.com
Modernizing European administration: what a program!
The European Commission's report entitled "Enhancing the European Administrative Space" was published this week, on October 25, 2023. It should come as no surprise that Europe's bureaucracy is in dire need of improvement, given the rapid advances in digital technology and the high-speed information available on the Internet.
This new EU digital legislation should provide “the framework for effective and secure data exchange and interoperability between public administrations.”
As a matter of fact, their “ComPAct” project aims “to strengthen the administrative cooperation” between European Member States and thereby, “allowing to close existing gaps in policies and services at European level.” This promising “strategic set of actions” is supposed to deliver “interconnected digital public services” by “increasing interoperability” as it “enables legal, organizational, semantic, and technical harmonization for cross-border data exchange”.
In other words, This EU digital legislation will supposedly make public administrations “collaborate more effectively, align their efforts with EU-wide objectives, and establish more resilient and sustainable digital and data infrastructures and services.”
How would they face this major challenge?
The Commission and Member States’ solution is the consolidation of a genuine single market through a government-to-government data space, known as the Once-Only Technical, to be set by December 2023. This Single Digital Gateway Regulation is a legal framework for the creation of Common European data spaces for public administrations to share information in a trusted way.
To meet this major challenge, the Commission is encouraging cities and communities to develop mutually-agreed interoperable digital solutions to deliver better-informed, more innovative and higher-quality services to people and businesses.
Moreover it will Organize an annual Local Public Administration Day in the context of the European Week of Regions and Cities. The event will give regional and local administrations an opportunity to discuss their specific governance challenges, from which the Commission can support them in their modernization efforts and capacity building.
In reality, this bold ambition is a long way off, given that, for example, it took two and a half years to give birth to the MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulation.
In more general terms, it takes several years for the member states to comply with the new European laws whatever they are, and it would request an enormous amount of resources to the European Commission to apply this new legislation within few years.
What's more, the introduction of these new laws would provide a favorable context for the creation of a European digital currency, which could lead to various risks such as a payment system fragmentation, a monopoly of payment service providers… (https://www.bis.org/review/r211128f.htm)
In any case, any improvement in European governance will be an additional achievement attributable to blockchain technology.
Source: commission.europa.eu