Hannah Lang News

Exchange Commission on Thursday approved applications from Nasdaq, CBOE and NYSE to list exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to the price of ether, potentially paving the way for the products to begin trading later this year. While the ETF issuers also have to get the greenlight before the products can launch, Thursday's approval is a major surprise win for those firms and the cryptocurrency industry, which until Monday had expected the SEC to reject the filings.

By Manya Saini, Niket Nishant and Hannah Lang

By Suzanne McGee and Hannah Lang

By Suzanne McGee and Hannah Lang

Cryptocurrencies staged a recovery this year after a torrid 2022 in which a market meltdown and a string of scandals, including the collapse of FTX and fraud charges against its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, undermined the credibility of the industry. The price of bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency and the market's chief barometer, has more than doubled this year, reaching a 20-month high in November of $42,000 per token. As of Friday, 2023 was its best year since 2020 in terms of percentage gains. The market has been buoyed by expectations that cooling inflation will allow central banks globally to forgo further rate hikes and start easing next year, making risk assets more attractive. A long-anticipated move by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) to approve a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) has also been a boost.

By Medha Singh, Chibuike Oguh and Hannah Lang

By Chris Prentice and Hannah Lang

By Hannah Lang

SEC) has accepted applications to create spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds from six firms including BlackRock for review, the first step in the agency's process for deciding whether or not to approve the latest round of proposals. The SEC also formally acknowledged applications from Bitwise, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity and Invesco for similar spot bitcoin ETFs, with those proposals appearing on the Federal Register Tuesday and Wednesday.

Stablecoin Tether's reserves were worth $81.8 billion at the end of the first quarter, according to a reserves attestation on Wednesday, up around $14.8 billion from the previous quarter.Crypto investors have flocked to the stablecoin in recent months, considering it to be a relatively safe haven during the turbulence of the U.S. regional banking crisis and a regulatory crackdown on crypto firms.Tether's reserves include $53 billion of U.S. treasuries, the report said, up from $39.2 billion at the end of 2022. They also include $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and $5.3 billion worth of loans which the report said are «over-collateralized». In a post on its website, Tether said it has been seeking to «reduce its reliance on pure bank deposits» and leverage the repo market instead. A repo, short for repurchase agreement, refers to when financial institutions use U.S. Treasuries and other high-quality securities as collateral to raise cash, often overnight.