Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has shown a significant improvement, experiencing its lowest ever outflow of $22.4 million, signalling a potential end to the recent downward trend in Bitcoin prices. This improvement comes as part of a broader positive trend in the cryptocurrency market, with other funds also seeing strong inflows, leading to a two-week high in overall net inflows for exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Data from Farside Investor for February 26, 2024 also indicates that GBTC had three consecutive days of decreasing net outflows on February 22, 23, and 26. Despite this positive development, Grayscale has recorded 31 consecutive trading days of outflows since converting to an ETF on January 11, 2024 with a total of $7.47 billion drained from the ETF.
However, there is optimism among industry experts, such as Blockstream CEO Adam Back and Henrik Andersson, CIO at Apollo Crypto, who believe that the first net inflow for Grayscale’s fund would be a significant signal to the market.
Incidentally, other Bitcoin ETFs have also seen positive net inflows, reaching $515.5 million on February 26, the highest in two weeks. This demonstrates continued interest and investment in Bitcoin, although there have been fluctuations in net inflows, with a net outflow of $35.6 million on February 21, 2024. Overall, these developments suggest a potential shift in sentiment towards Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investments, reports Cointelegraph.com.
US-based cryptocurrency brokerage firm, OANDA, has been given the green light to offer crypto trading services in the United Kingdom through its subsidiary, OANDA Crypto. This move follows the establishment of OANDA Crypto last year, following the acquisition of a majority stake in Coinpass, a company registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The new crypto trading platform will initially provide trading services for more than 63 cryptocurrency pairs, including popular options like Bitcoin and Ether.
OANDA also plans to expand its offerings by adding more tokens and features in the future. This expansion into the UK market comes over a year after OANDA launched its crypto trading services in the US in collaboration with Paxos. Additionally, OANDA recently relocated its European operations from Malta to Warsaw, through the acquisition of Dom Maklerski TMS Brokers SA, now rebranded as OANDA TMS.
OANDA’s decision to enter the UK market reflects its strategy of selecting regions with stringent regulatory requirements. This approach, which was first seen in the US and now in the UK, demonstrates the company’s commitment to compliance and desire to align with established market standards. Despite regulatory challenges, such as the FCA’s new guidelines on crypto advertising, OANDA’s move indicates its confidence in the UK’s regulatory environment and the potential for growth in the region.
Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange, BitForex, has sparked concern among users by abruptly suspending withdrawals for at least three days without providing a clear reason for its action. The suspension came shortly after approximately $56 million in cryptocurrencies were withdrawn from the exchange’s wallets, raising questions about the exchange’s financial stability and operational transparency.
Users have reported various issues with their BitForex accounts, including difficulty in accessing them and a dashboard that fails to display any assets. Some users have even been blocked from accessing the exchange’s website. Adding to the uncertainty, BitForex’s official X account has not been updated since May 2023, suggesting a lack of communication from the exchange’s management.
Incidentally, BitForex was once among the leading global cryptocurrency exchanges in terms of capitalisation, with a daily trading volume of about $2.6 billion as of September 2023. However, CoinMarketCap currently does not provide live data on BitForex, further complicating the assessment of its current status and operations. This development follows a regulatory challenge in April 2023, when Japan’s Financial Services Agency accused BitForex of violating the country’s fund settlement laws, further highlighting ongoing regulatory scrutiny faced by the exchange.
