3Commas Weekly Crypto Industry Updates August 30, 2024

Let's discuss on the latest news in crypto for the last week of August, 2024

Bitcoin holdings of publicly listed firms increased to $20B in one year

A recent survey data from Bitbo showed that 42 publicly listed companies hold 335,249 Bitcoin worth roughly $20B.

Data from investment manager Nickel Digital Asset Management, suggests that in the last one year, publicly traded firms held BTC worth $7.2B, which is a 177.7% increase in the value of BTC held by public firms. 

The buying spree started with the business intelligence firm MicroStrategy. In August 2020, MicroStrategy bought over 21,000 BTC making Bitcoin its primary treasury reserve asset.

Why does it matter? Public firms are grabbing their share of the Bitcoin supply before the scarcity increases which signals a positive approach from public firms in positioning BTC as a store of value.

‘PolitiFi’ tokens increased 667% this year, surpassing all memecoins.

Politically-themed memecoins only make up a small fraction of the total memecoin sector. But political Finance, or “PolitiFi”, tokens, including the likes of MAGA (TRUMP) and ConstitutionDAO (PEOPLE), have been the biggest gainers this year.

Data from coingecko suggests that the market capitalization of this memecoin sector increased by 667% in 2024. 

Currently, the market capitalization of these memecoins is $592.4M as of Aug. 27, which is seven times larger than the previous year. This surge is better than the most popular ones—dogecoin and shiba inu which have only done 73% within the same time period.

Why does it matter? Memecoin trading is expanding into a wider sector of the crypto trading industry. For traders, many of these are viewed as short-term and day trading assets, but that’s an important category as part of a comprehensive strategy that seeks to take advantage of as many trading opportunities as possible.

Bitcoin exchanges record the 3rd-biggest net daily outflow of 2024

According to CryptoQuant, the Bitcoin net outflows from exchanges got to another high on Aug. 27, recording the  third-largest net exchange outflow of 2024.

The current total net outflow is 45,000 BTC, which is currently behind July 5 and July 16, which sealed net outflows of around 52,000 BTC and 68,500 BTC, respectively.

There is also a corresponding increase in the number of BTC held by public firms which probably suggests an increased Bitcoin buying spree.

Why does it matter? Bitcoin bulls may have temporarily run out of steam, but behind the scenes, there is already interest in “buying the dip.”

CBOE submits updated proposal to list Bitcoin and Ethereum options in US

The CBOE — Chicago Board Options Exchange in the United States has submitted an amended application to the regulators to list options on Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to two Aug. 28 filings for Bitcoin and Ether options, respectively. 

The updated application shows the exchange's intentions to list options linked to ETH and BTC ETFs issued by asset managers, including Fidelity, 21Shares, Invesco, VanEck, Grayscale, Bitwise, BlackRock’s iShares, and Valkyrie. 

Why does it matter? Bitcoin trading exposure to large traditional investors has stretched beyond spot trading and it's a good development for adoption. 

Nasdaq seeks SEC approval to roll out Bitcoin Index Options.

The American Nasdaq stock exchange is reportedly requesting the approval of United States regulators to launch options on a Bitcoin index. 

The proposed Bitcoin Index Options would be based on the CME CF (Chicago Mercantile Exchange Crypto Facilities) Bitcoin Real-Time Index developed by CF Benchmarks. The index tracks Bitcoin futures and options contracts on CME Group’s exchange platform. 

CF Benchmarks is a UK-based cryptocurrency index provider that provides Benchmark Indices for various digital assets. 

Why does it matter? There is an increasing interest to list Bitcoin options indexes. This is a very big deal because the adoption of crypto funds and crypto trading for large traditional exchanges means crypto is here to stay. 

Conclusion: 

There is an increasing interest in the launch of Bitcoin and Ethereum options trading but most especially Bitcoin. Also, there is a rush to buy the Bitcoin dip which is evident with the increasing number of public institutions holding Bitcoin.