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Infographic: Bitcoin Could be at the Start of its Next Bull RunMay 17 – Visual Capitalist has released their new bitcoin infographic which suggests that this most recent price upswing could actually be the start of a new bull run. Despite severe drawdowns in cryptocurrency prices last year, bitcoin has made a tremendous recovery in 2019. The infographic suggests that there have been several factors which have helped drive the bitcoin price. The increasing acceptance of bitcoin from large corporations is helping legitimize the cryptocurrency over the long run. The infographic also notes that significant technical milestones have been made, such as the breach of the psychological level of $5,000 USD, and the 50-day moving average crossing above the 200-day moving average called the “golden cross”. See the full infographic from Visual Capitalist here. |
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Consensus 2019 Wrap-up: Amazon and Other Enterprise Blockchain AnnouncementsMay 16 – Several key developments around blockchain and crypto were announced at Coindesk’s Consensus 2019 last week in New York City. Often, the biggest announcements in blockchain and crypto occur at this event. Notably, Amazon made its first appearance at the conference to discuss their new managed blockchain service, called the Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB), which will operate as a centrally administered immutable data ledger within Amazon Web Services (AWS). The project will operate as centralized blockchain, meaning that the blockchain would not necessarily be distributed like the blockchains behind Bitcoin or Ethereum. Amazon’s move into this type of blockchain could be wise, as businesses may have found that they don’t need a distributed consensus for their internal operations and need something centrally-administered instead. Other announcements came from the ConenSys-backed Kaleido, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSE), and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). Read the full article from Coindesk here. |
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Average Crypto Hedge Fund AUM Grew 300% in Q1May 14 – A new research report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and Elwood Asset Management has delved into crypto hedge funds this quarter. In Q1 2019, crypto hedge fund assets under management (AUM) had grown around 300% from the previous quarter. The report also found that a majority of crypto hedge funds are still small, and over 60% of them have less than $10 million USD in AUM. Crypto hedge funds were also found to be distributed similarly in terms of demographics. Interestingly, most hedge funds out-performed bitcoin last year. The research noted that bitcoin fell around 72% last year, while crypto hedge funds reported just a 46% loss. Fundamental and discretionary hedge funds also underperformed “quantitative” fund returns in 2018. Average returns of quantitative funds reported a gain of 8%, while fundamental and discretionary funds reported a loss of 53% and 63% respectfully. “The crypto hedge fund industry today is probably where the traditional hedge fund industry was in the early 1990s. We expect the industry to go through a rapid period of institutionalization and implementation of sound practices over the coming years,” said Henri Arslanian, a director of PwC Hong Kong. Read the full article from Coindesk here. Read the full research report here. |
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Grayscale Q1 2019 Digital Asset Investment ReportMay 13 – Grayscale, an American digital asset manager, has released new numbers and metrics for their crypto financial products in Q1 2019. The data appears to confirm that larger investors are making moves into the cryptocurrency sector this quarter. The most relevant number for this was the 42% increase in product inflows in Q1 2019, which was $42.7 million USD compared to just $30.1 million USD in Q4 2018. Most of the increase has appeared to come from institutional investors. Q4 2018 saw less than $1 million USD in inflows from institutions, but institutional inflows had increased to $24 million USD in Q1 2019. The demographics of Grayscale customers could act as a good proxy for understanding the approach that institutional investors are taking in cryptocurrencies. Apart from institutions, the second most common investor profile were retirement accounts at 18%, and third were family offices at 10%. “Nearly all inflows in Q1 were into Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (99%). One possible explanation for this is that Bitcoin may have found a ‘sweet spot’ with respect to relative risk and return expectations versus other digital assets,” said the report. Read the full report from Grayscale Investments here. |
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Coinbase CEO Teases Launch of Debit Card in the USMay 17- During a recent AMA session on YouTube on May 16, Coinbase’s CEO Brian Armstrong hinted that the company could be releasing a Visa Debit card in the United States soon. Back in April 2019, the company announced that they had released a debit card to clients in the United Kingdom. The cards were issued by Paysafe Financial Services Limited, a United Kingdom-based firm which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The card links customer crypto balances on the exchange to the debit card, which allows customers to effortlessly spend their cryptocurrency holdings at merchants, or allows them to withdraw fiat currencies from ATMs. Read the full article from Bitcoin Magazine here. |
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3iQ Global Cryptoasset Fund: Price as at May 17, 20193iQ is the first regulator approved multi-cryptoasset portfolio manager in Canada, providing accredited investors with exposure to bitcoin, ether, and litecoin through its 3iQ Global Cryptoasset Fund. |
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3iQ Global Cryptoasset Fund Returns as at May 17, 2019Underlying cryptoasset prices sourced from Bloomberg. The inception date of TIQ101 is April 3, 2018. |
