Last Week in Review: FTX liquidates investments, and BlackRock BTC ETF hit major milestone

The highlights from last week’s headline grabbers. All the important news, numbers and events from the world of crypto in three bullet points or less. 

News from the block

FTX reportedly sold large amounts of bitcoin investments  

• “The data CoinDesk saw suggests FTX accounted for much of that. The 22 million shares it sold – which took FTX’s GBTC ownership down to zero – were worth close to $1 billion,” CoinDesk reported.
  
  
• FTX held 22.3 million Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, valued at $597 million as of Oct. 25, 2023, according to a filing from Nov. 3, 2023, according to CoinDesk. ​​GBTC was recently converted to a spot Bitcoin ETF. FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2022, and the recovery of funds is ongoing.
  
  
• At the time, the price of bitcoin was down roughly 20% since the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs. 

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Donald Trump said as president he won’t allow a CBDC

• There it is, a US politician using crypto as a political lever in their campaign. Donald Trump seemed to be appealing to the liberal vote in the US by claiming on stage that he will “never allow” a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the US.
  
  

• “As your president, I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency,” Trump said, as reported by CoinDesk.
  
  
• Polls indicated that the US presidential election could be a repeat between Biden and Trump. 

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BlackRock BTC ETF hit $1 billion mark in first week of trading 

• The investment manager’s spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) hit the $1 billion assets under management mark on Wednesday last week.
  
  
• “We are excited to see IBIT reach this milestone in its first week, reflecting strong investor demand,” Robert Mitchnick, Head of Digital Assets at BlackRock said. “This is just the beginning. We have a long-term commitment focused on providing investors access to an iShares quality ETF.”

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Meme coins rallied after X created new payments handle 

• X’s new handle, called X Payments, had many crypto investors speculating about whether Elon Musk will enable crypto as a payments option on the platform.
  
  
• Memecoins Doge and Floki rallied by as much as 12% after news of the handle did the rounds on X.
  
  
• The company said earlier in January that its next move will be launching a peer-to-peer payments option on the platform, “unlocking more user utility and new opportunities for commerce, and showcasing the power of living more of your life in one place.”

TL;DID read

THE DAILY BRIEFING, a bite-sized, daily market recap with relevant data and news to help inform your investment decisions. 

Crunching the numbers

$1 billion – The total amount of Bitcoin-related investments sold by FTX during the last week.  

5.1% – South Africa’s December inflation rate, a slowdown from 5.5% in November. 

*This information should not be construed as a solicitation to trade. All opinions, news, research, analysis, prices or other information is provided as general market commentary for information purposes only and is not investment advice or recommendation. Luno always advises you to obtain your own independent financial advice before investing or trading in cryptocurrency.