The fourth week of August has been exciting for the blockchain and cryptocurrency world. Perhaps the biggest news is that Alan Howard will launch a new $1 billion crypto hedge fund. A Financial Times report said the billionaire manager of the Brevan Howard hedge fund is unveiling a crypto portfolio platform that aims to make stable investments in a volatile market. The platform is geared towards institutional clients and will make strategic investments in other crypto hedge funds, becoming a fund of funds. The fund expects to manage as much as $1 billion in investments. Elwood Asset Management, the firm that manages Howard's personal digital assets, will run the launch, construction, and vision of the new crypto fund. According to data firm Hedge Fund Research, crypto-themed investment pools rose nearly 60% over the first two quarters this year.
Here is the rest of the week in review:
Craig Wright was ordered by a US judge to forfeit half of his crypto holdings. District Magistrate Bruce Reinhart confirmed that Wright, the controversial self-declared inventor of Bitcoin (BTC), must forfeit half his crypto mined before 2014 to Ira Kleiman as well as half his intellectual property, in an August 27 court document. The court found Wright had argued in bad faith, perjured himself, and admitted false evidence during the motion. The ongoing trial began in 2018, when Kleiman sued for half the BTC holdings in the Tulip Trust, alleging that Wright defrauded the Kleiman family's estate. The judge ruled that Wright's argument that the BTC is inaccessible due to his former business partner's death and a complicated encryption mechanism was made in bad faith. Kleiman must inform Wright of the legal costs due to him by September 20.
The Electric Coin Company (ECC), the for-profit firm supporting the development of Zcash (ZEC), issued its third quarter transparency report that reveals a net loss. The company reported an average a monthly deficit of 30%. The ECC brought in $449,000, while expenses averaged $635,000 per month. Launched in 2016 without an initial coin offering, the Zcash cryptocurrency created has since been divided between miners, the ECC, the Zcash Foundation, and certain founders and employees. The ECC development fund is set to reach zero in October 2020, which would slash funding for Zcash. But the new earnings report said the ECC is so far avoiding layoffs during the crypto bear market despite losses.
Crypto prices fell again to $248 billion this week, extending a losing streak. For the majors, Binance Coin (BNB), Litecoin (LTC), and Stellar (XLM) posted double digit percentage losses, while Tether (USDT) edged up 0.02%. In the top 100, the biggest losers were Algorand (ALGO), down 30%, Beam (BEAM), down 27%, and V Systems (VSYS), down 26%. The biggest gainers were Synthetix Network Token (SNX), up 31%, SOLVE (SOLVE), up 12%, and HedgeTrade (HEDG), up 7%. Next week traders will see if crypto can snap the losing streak and post gains.
The author owns a small amount of BTC and LTC.
