Coindesk

Another bitcoin miner, Hut 8 (HUT), has decided to pull the trigger on buying bitcoin in the open market, following the likes of MicroStrategy (MSTR) and MARA Holdings (MARA).The Miami, Florida-based company said it bought about 990 bitcoin for an average price of $101,710 each. The latest purchase will bring the amount of bitcoin held in Hut 8's reserve to 10,096, or about $1 billion in market value, and make it among the top 10 largest corporate owners of bitcoin, the company said in a statement on Thursday. The miner is planning to use the reserve through options strategies, pledges, sales or other strategies, according to the statement. Hut 8's CEO, Asher Genoot, told CoinDesk that his firm will be...

The year 2024 has marked a significant breakthrough for digital assets, particularly for bitcoin (BTC), driven by increased institutional adoption. This shift has occurred through two key avenues: first, the integration of bitcoin into public balance sheets as a treasury asset, and second, the success of U.S. spot-listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that have amassed over 1 million BTC.A report from K33 Research reveals that U.S.-listed bitcoin ETFs have surpassed U.S.-listed Gold ETFs in terms of assets under management (AUM), including leveraged products such as futures-based ETFs. As of Dec. 17, Bitcoin ETFs reached assets under management (AUM) worth $129.25 billion, edging out Gold ETF AUM at $128.88 billion, according to Vetle Lunde, analyst at K33 Research.However, when comparing spot-based products...

World Liberty Financial, backed by the family of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, on Wednesday exchanged about $10 million worth of Coinbase's (COIN) wrapped bitcoin, cbBTC, for rival WBTC.Wrapped bitcoin is a form of the world's largest cryptocurrency that can be used in decentralized finance (DeFi) on blockchains other than Bitcoin.Coinbase introduced cbBTC in September, and in November said it would delist WBTC, citing its listing standards. That action prompted BiT Global, a custodian involved in WBTC, to sue the crypto exchange to prevent the removal. A court ruled against BiT Global on Wednesday.There's one more link in the chain: Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron blockchain and one of CoinDesk's Most Influential 2024. In its defense, Coinbase cited BiT...

Crypto traders initial worries about a hawkish Fed materialized Wednesday as Chairman Jerome Powell cut interest rates but expressed uncertainty about the speed and extent of future easing. And now the sentiment has deteriorated. Bitcoin's seven-day call-put skew shows that Deribit-listed put options offering downside protection and expiring in one week are trading at the highest implied volatility premium to call options since September, according to data source Amberdata. In other words, put options are the most expensive relative to calls in three months.Its a sign of traders scrambling to hedge their bullish bets against a potential continuation of Wednesday's price slide, triggered by a hawkish Fed.The dour sentiment is also evident from the negative one-month skew, reflecting a bias...

A bitcoin (BTC) slump spiraled into over $700 million worth of liquidations across futures tracking major tokens, with XRP and dogecoin (DOGE) products recording unusually high losses.BTC fell under $100,000 in late U.S. hours before slightly recovering during early Asian hours Thursday, as the Federal Reserve hinted at a few rate cuts in 2025. Fed chair Jerome Powell then said at a post-FOMC press conference that the central bank wasn’t allowed to own bitcoin under current regulations — in response to a question about President-elect Donald Trump’s strategic reserve promises."That's the kind of thing that Congress should consider, but we are not looking for a law change," Powell said. In a July campaign, Trump said the government would keep 100%...