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Trump fails to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve
Donald Trump speaking at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images
“For too long, our government has violated the fundamental rule that every bitcoiner knows by heart: never sell your bitcoin,” Trump said at this year’s Bitcoin Conference in Nashville.
“If elected, it will be the policy of my administration, the United States of America, to retain 100% of all bitcoin that the United States government currently holds or acquires in the future,” he said.
Trump’s strategy of permanently holding his share of bitcoin, both during bull and bear markets, is being strongly encouraged in cryptocurrency circles., although this is not the current approach of the United States government.
Currently, the The United States Marshals Service regularly auctions bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies held in the country’s coffers as ether AND litecoinThese sales can sometimes trigger drops in cryptocurrency prices, as at the beginning of this month as Germany began liquidating hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin it had seized.
In a closed-door roundtable with a mix of donors before Trump’s remarks on Saturday, the former president did not discuss the mechanics of his plan but said he thought it would make sense for the government to hold bitcoin.
According to two people in the room, the meeting was attended by investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, musician Kid Rock, Republican Senators Cynthia Lummis, Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn, and others.
Trump’s proposal was less revolutionary than some cryptocurrency enthusiasts had expected, and failed to keep pace with the more radical speeches of third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“I understand that tomorrow President Trump may announce his plan to build a Fort Knox of bitcoin and authorize the United States government to purchase one million bitcoins as a strategic reserve,” Kennedy said during his speech at the Bitcoin Conference on Friday.
Kennedy went further than Trump, promising to establish a strategic reserve of 4 million bitcoins to match the country’s current gold holdings, some of which are held near the Fort Knox military base. The independent presidential candidate said he would sign an executive order directing the U.S. Treasury to purchase 550 bitcoins a day, an act that would fundamentally change how the cryptocurrency is regulated and valued.
As bitcoin becomes an increasingly central campaign issue, driven largely by the growing presence of the cryptocurrency lobby in Washington, Trump’s reluctance to share Kennedy’s commitment to “Bitcoin Fort Knox” is notable.
But Trump’s reserve is indicative of the complications that come with promising a strategic reserve of bitcoin on par with the gold standard.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In short, no.
An executive order wouldn’t be enough to create a U.S. bitcoin reserve. The president would likely need new legislation and congressional approval to pass it. Some lawmakers have started that process.
Shortly after Trump’s keynote speech at the Bitcoin Conference on Saturday, Senator Lummis of Wyoming announced her plan to introduce new legislation that would support a strategic bitcoin reserve.
“In five years, the United States will collect 1 million bitcoins, five percent of the world’s supply,” Lummis said. “And that will be held for a minimum of 20 years and can be used for one purpose: to reduce our debt.”
Lummis added that creating this type of reserve would help strengthen the dollar against rising inflation.
The U.S. government has a wealth of bitcoin that it steals from financial criminals through high-profile sting operations.
The current bitcoin reserve could serve as the foundation for the strategic bitcoin reserve, which the U.S. government would build upon by regularly purchasing a certain number of bitcoins.
These additional bitcoin purchases would likely be paid for, at least in part, by U.S. taxpayers.
Under Senator Lummis’s bill, which is expected to be introduced in the coming days, a bitcoin reserve would be paid for with “existing funds” from the Treasury Department, which includes tax revenues.
The ultimate goal would be to reduce the federal deficit, Lummis said at the Bitcoin Conference, which could potentially offset the initial spending.
Passing a bill to establish a reserve like the one Lummis is proposing would most likely require a landslide victory by Republicans in November: the White House, Senate and House.
The odds of this kind of red wave appeared to be increasing for much of July as Democrats and independents turned away from President Joe Biden.
But with Vice President Kamala Harris leading the Democratic ticket, the 2024 election will be a whole new ballgame.
A bitcoin reserve would give the digital currency an even greater level of legitimacy, building on the momentum of Wall Street’s growing adoption of the digital asset.
In JanuarySpot bitcoin exchange-traded funds have launched on U.S. markets for the first time ever with the blessing of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Many saw the listing as an event that cemented bitcoin’s place as an asset class here to stay.
However, launching a national reserve would be a stunning promotion for the teenage currency, which launched in 2009 and has since seen volatile performance with occasional windfalls for its investors. Trump himself was a bitcoin critic as recently as 2021, calling the currency “a scam.”
In the short term, bitcoin’s new status would send the cryptocurrency’s price skyrocketing.
“If the U.S. government created a strategic reserve, other countries would probably do the same, and that would take a lot of bitcoin off the market,” he said. Digital MarathonCEO Fred Thiel. “That then determines the entire price.”
For now, bitcoin is holding steady around $68,000 as markets ignore Trump’s promises on bitcoin, which have proven to be much less aggressive than expected.
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Cryptocurrency Price August 1: Bitcoin Dips Below $65K; Solana, XRP Down Up To 8%
Major cryptocurrencies fell in Thursday trading following the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep its key interest rate unchanged. Overnight, the U.S. Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate at 5.25-5.5% for the eighth consecutive time, as expected, while also signaling the possibility of a rate cut at its next meeting in September. The unanimous decision by the Federal Open Market Committee reflects a continued wait-and-see approach as it monitors inflation trends.
CoinSwitch Markets Desk said: “Bitcoin has fallen below $65,000 after the US Federal Reserve announced it would keep interest rates unchanged. However, with markets now anticipating rate cuts at the next Federal Reserve meeting in September, the outlook for a Bitcoin rally by the end of the year has strengthened.”
Meanwhile, CoinDCX research team said: “The crypto market has plunged after the Fed decision. Tomorrow’s US unemployment rate announcement is expected to induce more volatility, with the ‘actual’ figure coming in higher than the ‘expected’ one, which is positive for cryptocurrencies.”
At 12:21 pm IST, Bitcoin (BTC) was down 3.2% at $64,285, while Ethereum was down nearly 4.5% at $3,313. Meanwhile, the global market cryptocurrency The market capitalization fell 3.6% to around $2.3 trillion in the last 24 hours.
“Bitcoin needs to clear its 200-day EMA at $64,510 to consolidate further. Otherwise, a retest of $62,000 could be in the cards,” said Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus.
Altcoins and meme coins, such as BNB (3%), Solana (8%), XRP (5.7%), Dogecoin (5%), Cardano (4.6%), Avalanche (4.3%), Shiba Inu (3.8%), Polkadot (3.4%), and Chainlink (4%) also saw declines.
The volume of all stablecoins is now $71.64 billion, which is 92.19% of the total cryptocurrency market volume in 24 hours, according to data available on CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 54.99%. BTC volume in the last 24 hours increased by 23.3% to $35.7 billion.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, opinions and views provided by experts are personal. They do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
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Altcoins WIF, BONK, RUNE, JUP Down 10% While Bitcoin Drops 4%
Altcoins dogwifhat, Bonk, THORChain, and Jupiter have suffered losses of more than 10%, while Bitcoin is down 4% in the last 24 hours.
After a period of relative calm yesterday, July 31, Bitcoin (BTC) price action has seen a drastic change as the cryptocurrency dropped by more than $3,500, bringing its value to $63,300. At the same time, altcoins mirrored this trend, with the total value of liquidated positions rising to nearly $225 million over the course of the day.
Initially, the week started on a positive note for Bitcoin, which reached its highest point since early June, hitting $70,000. However, this peak was short-lived, as it was quickly rejected, leading to a substantial decline, with Bitcoin falling below $65,500.
The cryptocurrency managed to regain some stability, trading comfortably at around $66,800. However, following a Press conference According to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, the value of Bitcoin has fallen again to $64,300, down more than 3% in 24 hours.
BTC Price Chart 24 Hours | Source: crypto.news
The recession coincided with a relationship from the New York Times stating that Iran had called for retaliatory measures against Israel following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, increasing the risk of further conflict in the region.
Meanwhile, on the economic front, the Federal Reserve decided to keep its benchmark interest rates in place, offering little information on a planned September rate cut. Powell also hinted that while no concrete decisions have been made on the September adjustment, there is growing consensus that a rate cut is likely.
Amid Bitcoin’s decline, altcoins have suffered even more significant losses. For example, dogwifhat (Wife) saw a 12.4% drop and (DISGUST) has suffered a 10% drop. Other altcoins such as THORChain (RUNE) also fell by 10%, while Jupiter (JUPITER) and the Ethereum naming service (ENS) decreased by 8% and 9% respectively.
Among the largest-cap cryptocurrencies, the biggest losers are Solana (SOL) with a decrease of 8%, (Exchange rate risk) down 6%, Cardano (ADA) down 4%, and both Ethereum (ETH) and Dogecoin (DOGE) recording a decrease of 4.4%.
Data from CoinGlass indicates that approximately 67,000 traders have been negatively impacted by this increased volatility. BTC positions have seen $61.85 million in liquidations, while ETH positions have faced $61 million. In total, the value of liquidated positions stands at $225.4 million at the time of writing.
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Riot Platforms Sees 52% Drop in Bitcoin Production in Q2
Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms has released its second-quarter financial results, highlighting a decline in cryptocurrency mined due to the recent halving.
Colorado-based Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Riot platforms revealed its second quarter financial results, highlighting a significant reduction in mined cryptocurrencies attributed to the recent halving event that took place in early April.
The company reported total revenue of $70 million for the quarter ended July 31, a decline of 8.7% compared to the same period in 2023. Riot Platforms attributed the revenue decline primarily to a $9.7 million decrease in engineering revenue, which was partially mitigated by a $6 million increase in Bitcoin extraction income.
During the quarter, the company mined 844 BTC, representing a decline of over 50% from Q2 2023, citing the halving event and increasing network difficulty as major factors behind the decline. Riot Platforms reported a net loss of $84.4 million, or $0.32 per share, missing Zacks Research forecast a loss of $0.16 per share.
Halving increases competitive pressure
The Colorado-based firm said the average cost of mining one BTC in the second quarter, including energy credits, rose to $25,327, a remarkable 341% increase from $5,734 per BTC in the same quarter of 2023. Despite this significant increase in production costs, the firm remains optimistic about maintaining competitiveness through recent deals.
For example, following the Recent acquisition Cryptocurrency firm Block Mining, Riot has increased its distributed hash rate forecast from 31 EH/s to 36 EH/s by the end of 2024, while also increasing its 2025 forecast from 40 EH/s to 56 EH/s.
Riot Platforms Hashrate Growth Projections by 2027 | Source: Riot Platforms
Commenting on the company’s financials, Riot CEO Jason Les said that despite the halving, the mining company still managed to achieve “significant operational growth and execution of our long-term strategy.”
“Despite this reduction in production available to all Bitcoin miners, Riot reported $70 million in revenue for the quarter and maintained strong gross margins in our core Bitcoin mining business.”
Jason Les
Following its Q2 financial report, Riot Platforms shares fell 1.74% to $10.19, according to Google Finance data. Meanwhile, the American miner continues to chase Canadian rival Bitfarms, recently acquiring an additional 10.2 million BITF shares, increasing its stake in Bitfarms to 15.9%.
As previously reported by crypto.news, Riot was the first announced a $950 million takeover bid for Bitfarms in late May, arguing that Bitfarms’ founders were not acting in the best interests of all shareholders. They said their proposal was rejected by Bitfarms’ board without substantive engagement.
In response, Bitfarms She said that Riot’s offer “significantly understates” its growth prospects. Bitfarms subsequently implemented a shareholder rights plan, also known as a “poison pill,” to protect its strategic review process from hostile takeover attempts.
News
Aave Price Increases Following Whales Accumulation and V3.1 Launch
Decentralized finance protocol Aave is seeing a significant spike in whale activity as the market looks to recover from the recent crash that pushed most altcoins into key support areas earlier this week.
July 31, Lookonchain shared details indicating that the whales had aggressively accumulated Aave (AAVE) over the past two days. According to the data, whales have withdrawn over 58,848 AAVE worth $6.47 million from exchanges during this period.
In one instance, whale address 0x9af4 withdrew 11,185 AAVE worth $1.23 million from Binance. Meanwhile, another address moved 21,619 AAVE worth over $2.38 million from the exchange and deposited the tokens into Aave.
These withdrawals follow a previous transfer of 26,044 AAVE from whale address 0xd7c5, amounting to over $2.83 million withdrawn from Binance.
AAVE price has surged over 7% in the past 24 hours amid buy-side pressure from these whales. The DeFi token is currently trading around $111 after jumping over 18% in the past week.
Recently, the price of AAVE increased by over 8% after Aave founder Marc Zeller announced a proposed fee change aimed at adopting a buyback program for AAVE tokens.
Aave v3.1 is available
The total value locked in the Aave protocol currently stands at around $22 billion. According to DeFiLlamaApproximately $19.9 billion is on Aave V3, while the V2 chain still holds approximately $1.9 billion in TVL and V1 approximately $14.6 million.
Aave Labs announced Previously, Aave V3.1 was made available on all networks with active Aave V3 instances.
V3.1 features improvements that are intended to improve the overall security of the DeFi protocol. The Aave DAO governance has approved the v3.1 improvements, which also include operational efficiency and usability for the network.
Meanwhile, Aave Labs recently outlined a ambitious roadmap for the projectwith a 2030 vision for Aave V4, among other developments.
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