Coindesk

Hedge funds hold record short positions in ether (ETH) futures trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), raising questions about the motivations behind these positions.At first glance, the data could suggest that sophisticated market players anticipate price slides, as discussed on social media. However, this isn’t entirely accurate; carry trades or arbitrage plays primarily drive the record short interest, but some of these short futures trades represent outright bearish bets on the cryptocurrency, per observers.As of the week ended Feb. 4, hedge funds held a net short position of 11,341 contracts in the CME futures, according to data tracked by ZeroHedge and the Kobeissi Letter. The number has increased 40% in one week and 500% since November, according to The...

Odds of a litecoin (LTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) going live in the coming months jumped to over 90% with dogecoin (DOGE) next at 75% odds, well-followed ETF analyst James Seyffart said in an X post late Monday.Seyffart made similar predictions for bitcoin (BTC) ETFs before the products went live in 2024. Several providers have filed ETFs for various major tokens in the past year under the Biden administration to low interest from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). LTC is up 15% in the past 24 hours, beating a 2% increase in bitcoin (BTC), with DOGE up 6%.A shifting regulatory climate has buoyed approval hopes, however, with the SEC already passing initial checks for certain tokens in the past...

Cardano's ADA token surged 11%, outperforming bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), after Grayscale Investments applied for the first-ever spot ADA exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S.ADA jumped to 80 cents, with the move starting late Wednesday, according to CoinDesk data. However, the ninth-largest cryptocurrency by market value, is still down 36% from its December high of around $1.37.Grayscale, a prominent crypto asset manager, filed to list the first ever spot ADA fund on the New York Stock Exchange. A spot ETF would enable investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency without having to own it directly. Bitcoin and ether spot ETFs began trading in the U.S. last year, attracting billions in investor funds since their inception and bolstering the...

Crypto investment firm Grayscale on Monday filed to list a Cardano (ADA) exchange traded fund on the New York Stock Exchange.Grayscale, which last year broke through U.S. regulators' blockade against the bitcoin ETF, has never previously offered a standalone ADA investment vehicle despite making past moves to do so.But the Trump 2.0 SEC's pivot from policing the crypto industry to seemingly embracing it has emboldened issuers to think big about what they can get through. In recent weeks Grayscale filed for a Solana and XRP ETF as well.Those products would convert Grayscale's preexisting crypto trust products into more widely tradeable ETFs whereas the ADA ETF would be entirely new.Investor demand has always been high for the flagship asset of the...

Klarna Bank AB, a Swedish fintech company popular in Europe, plans to embrace cryptocurrencies on its platform, the firm’s chief executive officer, Sebastian Siemiatkowski announced in a post on X over the weekend.“I give up. Klarna and me will embrace crypto! More to come,” he wrote to his 33,000 followers on the app.Klarna is a popular “buy now, pay later” app primarily used in Europe. The platform, which is valued at $14.8 billion according to Investopedia, has over 85 million users and 100 billion of volume, Siemiatkowski said.The company has been around since 2005 and received backing by Sequoia Capital, a prominent venture capitalist behind many fintech and crypto-focused companies, in 2010. Siemiatkowski said he was introduced to three entrepreneurs...