Last week, Purpose Investment's Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) surged on Thursday in its trading debut on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the ticker "BTCC." The first ever Bitcoin ETF in Canada and North America saw immense interest in its first 2 days, trading over $100 million in volume on its first day and collecting $421.8 million in assets under management (AUM) by the end of Friday.
Bloomberg Intelligence ETFs analyst Eric Balchunas projected that Purpose Investment's Bitcoin ETF could surpass $1 billion in assets by the end of next week. The Evolve Bitcoin ETF also debuted Friday on the TSX under the ticker "EBIT" and attracted $1.271 million AUM. Both ETFs assess a management fee of 1%. The huge interest in the ETFs signals investors would likely also pile into a U.S. Bitcoin ETF when it is approved in the future.
Here is the rest of the week in review:
MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) chief executive Michael Saylor announced Friday the business intelligence firm had completed a new $1.05 billion debt offering, a raise that will allow MicroStrategy to purchase another $1 billion in Bitcoin. The offering sold investors convertible unsecured senior notes due 2027 with a 0% coupon. The firm said: "MicroStrategy estimates that the net proceeds from the sale of the notes will be approximately $1.03 billion, after deducting the initial purchasers' discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by MicroStrategy. [...] MicroStrategy intends to use the net proceeds from the sale of the notes to acquire additional Bitcoin. The new fundraise reflects MicroStrategy's unique dual business strategy of developing business intelligence software and also buying as much Bitcoin as it possibly can. MicroStrategy already owns 71,039 BTC on its balance sheet.
Zhejiang Geely Holding, the Chinese firm that owns Swedish automaker Volvo, and Swiss blockchain firm Concordium announced a joint venture on Friday to provide blockchain technology and decentralized applications for customers in China. Concordium's innovative technology facilitates encrypted transfers and zero-knowledge proof mechanisms for privacy. The new joint venture will leverage Concordium's blockchain technology to help clients create businesses like digital identity, regulatory, and privacy enhancement technologies. Under the deal, Geely will own 80% of the venture, and Concordium will own the rest. But both companies will manage the venture as equal partners. The joint venture will cooperate with Geely subsidiary Genius & Guru and is expected to start operations in 2021, pending regulatory approval.
Crypto prices again exploded to $1.75 trillion this week, thanks to the surge of Bitcoin past $57,000 and Ether (ETH) through $2,000. For the majors, Binance Coin (BNB) and Cardano (ADA) posted outsized gains, while only XRP slipped. In the top 100, the biggest losers were Avalanche (AVAX), down 13%, Reserve Rights (RSR), down 11%, and Algorand (ALGO), down 9%. The biggest gainers were DODO, up a whopping 195%, PancakeSwap (CAKE), up 154%, and Pundi X (NPXS), up 152%. Next week traders will watch if crypto experiences a correction from its recent monster rally or continues up.
The author owns a small amount of BTC.