Značka: block

BlackRock’s newest ETF invests in 35 blockchain-related companies

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has just launched a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) providing European customers with exposure to the blockchain industry, while reports indicate a Metaverse-focused ETF may be on the way. The new blockchain ETF launched on Sept. 27 is called the iShares Blockchain Technology UCITS ETF (BLKC). BlackRock said 75% of its holdings consist of blockchain companies such as miners and exchanges, while the other 25% are companies that support the blockchain ecosystem.The fund includes 35 global companies out of a total of 50 holdings, which also includes fiat cash and derivatives, but does not directly invest in cryptocurrencies.BLKC marks the latest of a series of moves into the digital assets space for BlackRock, with the most recent being the launch of a private spot Bitcoin trust on Aug. 11. In a Sept. 29 report from Finextra, product strategist for thematic and sector ETFs at BlackRock, Omar Moufti, said the ETF will “allow our clients the opportunity to engage with global companies leading the development of the emerging blockchain ecosystem,” adding: “We believe digital assets and blockchain technologies are going to become increasingly relevant for our clients as use cases develop in scope, scale and complexity.”The top 5 holdings in the fund are Coinbase (13.20%), USD cash (13.00%), fintech firm Block (11.40%), crypto mining firms Marathon Digital Holdings (11.13%) and Riot Blockchain (10.50%).Other holdings include 23 IT companies, six financial companies, one industrials company, and one communications company, with 50 holdings in total as of Sept. 28.However, a Bloomberg report on Sept. 29 suggests that BlackRock may be working on another ETF — focused on the Metaverse, called the iShares Future Metaverse Tech and Communications ETF. Related: Wealth managers and VCs are helping drive institutional crypto adoption — Wave Financial execsThe report said that the fund’s fees and ticker are not yet listed, but might include “firms that have products or services tied to virtual platforms, social media, gaming, digital assets, augmented reality and more.”The Metaverse ETF follows insights published on Feb. 14 from BlackRock Technology Opportunities Fund co-portfolio manager Reid Menge, who labeled the Metaverse a “revolution in the making.”‘Metaverse’ mentions in company transcripts. Source: BlackRock Market Minute citing Morgan Stanley, 2021.On Aug. 4 Coinbase announced that it had entered into a partnership with BlackRock and appears to be reaping the rewards of the partnership with its high weighting in BLKC.The partnership gives institutional investors the ability to access crypto through its Coinbase Prime service.

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Blockstream and Block Inc to build solar Bitcoin mining facility powered by Tesla technology

On Friday, cryptocurrency storage company Blockstream and Block Inc. (formerly Square) announced the construction of a solar-powered Bitcoin (BTC) mining facility in Texas. As told by Blockstream, the mining site will be outfitted with 3.8 megawatts (MW) of electrical capacity using Tesla’s Solar photovoltaic cell array and a 12 an MWh Megapack.Manufactured by Tesla Energy, Megapack is a powerful lithium-ion battery that provides energy storage and support. In context, one of the leading publicly-listed Bitcoin mining companies, Hut 8 Mining, has about 209 MW in total contracted mining capacity. The purpose of the venture is to investigate the feasibility of operating a zero-emission energy Bitcoin mine. Blockstream and Block began collaborating on the project last June, with Block promising to invest $5 million for its construction.In addition to its physical construction, the teams at Blockstream and Block will build a publicly accessible dashboard to report on the project’s economics. Key metrics will include power output, the number of Bitcoin mined, storage performance, total uptime, expenses and return on investment, etc. It will be accessible 24/7 from any browser.While solar Bitcoin mining is theoretically carbon-neutral, there is a great deal of controversy within the crypto community about its practicality. In June 2021, Braiins, the world’s oldest Bitcoin mining pool, published a feasibility analysis on using solar energy to mine Bitcoin and concluded that it was not profitable, even when considering near-free electricity costs and recycling surplus energy during peak sunny hours. Braiins’ chief marketing officer Kristian Csepcsar is also an outspoken critic of solar Bitcoin mining, pointing out that using traditional metrics to evaluate its “environmental friendliness” doesn’t account for variables such as the production of “brutally” harmful chemicals during the manufacturing of solar panels.

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Bitcoin transaction fees hit decade lows, here's why

It’s a great time to move Bitcoin (BTC) between wallets and exchanges. Bitcoin transaction fees have hit all-time lows in BTC, according to research by Galaxy Digital. #bitcoin fees are at all-time lows. the craziest thing? fall 2021 was the first bull run not accompanied by a major spike in fees.how is that possible? what does it mean? here’s a thread explaining the most confounding (and awesome) chart in bitcoin. (remember june 2021) pic.twitter.com/gnWssTckX2— Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins) April 5, 2022As shown on the graph below, the Bitcoin mean transaction fee has plummeted to 0.00004541 Bitcoin ($2.06) in 2022, while the median is 0.00001292 Bitcoin ($0.59) which is the lowest of any year except 2011, according to the report.Graph to show the fees trending down since 2013. Source: Galaxy DigitalAccording to Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy Digital, a combination of growing Segwit adoption, batching transactions, growth in the Lightning Network, a collapse in miners selling and the “reduced OP_Return usage” have caused the drop in fees not seen for over a decade. Lead on-chain analyst at Glassnode, James Check, agreed with Thorn, explaining to Cointelegraph that “batching and Segwit are certainly part of the mix,” because the combination will increase the number of transactions that fit in a block, and thus increase throughput and decrease fee pressure.He shared the following graph to show that Segwit adoption “increased significantly at the May-July lows.”Source: GlassnodeNonetheless, Check continues, “This is not the whole story…”:“The number one reason I believe fees are low is we had a 50% collapse in price in May which absolutely decimated retail interest.”He suggests that “all three [fees, active addresses and transaction counts] collapsed after the May sell-off.” Fees (orange), active addresses (blue), transaction counts (purple), and BTC price (gray). Source: Glassnode.”This, in my view was the likely commencing of a bear market and even with the price run-up, we saw a great many people financially burned, and thus out of the market.”Eric Yakes, the author of The 7th Property: Bitcoin and the Monetary Revolution, told Cointelegraph, “We’re witnessing a structural change in the market dynamics and historical correlations maintain little value.” Regarding the future of the network, the “$70M raised by lighting labs to build a stablecoin and asset protocol,” is a key development for the Bitcoin protocol. He added that “it’s important for transaction fees to trend lower as they are the primary limitation to scaling a network in a decentralized manner.”Related: Bitcoin Lightning Network growth capacity plateaus at 3,400 BTCUltimately, while transaction fees are a boon for wallet admin and opening lightning channels, it could be a sign that retail interest has dried up. For Check, “look no further than ye olde Google trends to see just how popular the orange coin is right now,” suggesting that “there is near zero inflow of new users.” Google trends search interest for Bitcoin has trended lower since the April/May peak.Yakes has the last word regarding the emergence of Bitcoin: “Bitcoin needs the lightning network to continue its pace of growth and a thriving network of smart contract development to emerge.”

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Block nets $1.18B Q4 gross profit marking a 47% YoY increase

Crypto-friendly digital payments tech firm Block, Inc. (formerly known as Square) posted $1.18 billion worth of gross profit in Q4, representing a growth of 47% over the same period in 2020. The firm led by Bitcoin maxi Jack Dorsey has multiple business arms including Cash App, Square, and the freshly acquired buy now pay later (BNPL) firm Afterpay after the $29 billion deal officially closed at the end of last month. Block’s 2021 Q4 report was posted on Feb. 24, and the firm revealed significant gross profit increases across Cash App and Square, with each firm generating $518 million and $657 million apiece to mark YoY gains of 37% and 54% respectively. In total, the company generated $4.42 billion worth of gross profit for the entirety of 2021, marking a YoY growth of 62% compared to 2020. The impressive figures do require a pinch of salt, however, as Block’s net profit after expenses for Q4 tallied just $77 million ($166 million for all of 2021) suggesting hefty operating costs for the firm. The company pointed to Cash App’s Cash Card and Square’s seller ecosystem as key metrics behind the Q4 growth, noting that the Cash Card saw more than 13 million active users in December with 38% of sellers using four or more Square business products. Moving forward in 2022, Block also highlighted the significance of the Afterpay deal as it will enable the firm to significantly scale up its offerings and products this year. The firm stated: “On January 31, we completed our acquisition of Afterpay, a global “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) platform. We believe this acquisition will further Block’s strategic priorities for Square and Cash App by strengthening the connections between our ecosystems as we deliver compelling financial products and services for consumers and merchants.”Related Coinbase made $2.2 billion in revenue from transaction fees in Q4Block has been ramping up its presence in the crypto space of late, with Cointelegraph reporting in mid-January that Cash App had integrated the Lightning Network to speed up BTC transfers, while Dorsey confirmed that Block was rolling out open-source Bitcoin mining systems. After stepping down from Twitter in November, Dorsey is reportedly said to be mainly focused on scaling the Block’s crypto initiatives.

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Block, formerly Square, will allow users to gift BTC for the holidays using Cash App

Digital payments company Block, formerly called Square, has announced that Cash App users will be able to gift friends and family both crypto and stock over the holiday season.According to a Tuesday tweet, Cash App said its users — roughly 40 million active monthly — could send as little as $1 in Bitcoin (BTC) or stock as a gift in the same way they had been sending cash. The payments firm joins others including PayPal and Coinbase in allowing users to send crypto as payments or gifts to third parties.With Cash App, you can now send as little as $1 in stock or bitcoin. It’s as easy as sending cash, and you don’t need to own stock or bitcoin to gift it. So this holiday season, forget the scented candles or novelty beach towel, and help your cousin start investing. pic.twitter.com/HS0CqusiLS— Cash App (@CashApp) December 14, 2021Cointelegraph reported on Dec. 7 that a study by lending firm BlockFi showed many Americans would be willing to accept cryptocurrencies including BTC, Ether (ETH), and Dogecoin (DOGE) as gifts this holiday season. However, the same survey revealed that the majority of respondents did not have the skills to transfer crypto. Many critics have attributed sending BTC to newbies as part of the reason so many coins have been lost since 2009.Related: Gifting crypto to loved ones this holiday? Educate them firstOther projects are accepting donations in crypto over the holidays to help those in need. Fintech provider Unbanked announced earlier this month it would be enabling crypto donations for Toys for Tots, a program run by the United States Marine Corps that collects toys to distribute to disadvantaged children. In addition, platforms like the Giving Block allow non-profit organizations and charities to accept donations in crypto.

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