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Bitcoin saw a significant spike over the weekend and this morning after it was confirmed regulators in the US wouldn’t be pursuing an appeal against Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF application. 

Bitcoin’s price trended down over seven days, having begun just above $27,500 moving as low as $26,300. But last night’s late news erased all the losses, with the cryptoasset trading just above $27,500 again on eToro.

Ether saw another slide last week though. Having begun above $1,600 it moved 3% lower over seven days and is now trading around $1,560. 

The news in the US over Grayscale’s ETF application has potentially very significant ramifications for the bitcoin market. The story of spot price ETF approval has been a dominant narrative in the bitcoin market for several months now. 

As the barriers to approval fall, hopes among investors continue to rise that we could see these products in the market sooner rather than later. 
 

US Govt holds $5 billion in bitcoin

The US Government holds $5 billion worth of bitcoin according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. This, per the report, makes it one of the largest holders in the world of the cryptoasset. 

Should we be concerned that the US Government has such a large stake in Bitcoin? As it stands, not particularly. Most of its holdings are incidental, related to seizures from illicit activities rather than an active policy of accruing the cryptoasset. 

Plus at $5 billion, its holdings represent less than 1% of the total market cap of bitcoin which according to Coinmarketcap is around $543 billion. As a decentralized network, bitcoin would require a holding of over 50% in order for one actor to take control. This is very unlikely to happen. Were a major actor to attempt to run up a 50% holding it would send the price spiralling anyway, making it persistently harder to achieve. 
 

Bitcoin whales hold while ether whales sell

Bitcoin and ether whales are taking markedly different actions in the market at the moment according to Glassnode data. ‘Whales’ refer to holders of significant size (typically over 1000 BTC) of a cryptoasset. While bitcoin whales appear to be accumulating, ether whales are selling holdings. 

The trend reflects the divergence we’ve seen of late between the two biggest cryptoassets. Bitcoin, while it hasn’t had meteoric price changes, does seem to be holding steady amid wider market volatility, whereas ether hasn’t been quite as robust. 

As ever though, it’s important not to read too much into what large holder activity is doing, as these holders will have their own reasons for buying or selling. It's important for investors to reflect rather on the long-term cases for cryptoassets and their future potential. 
 

Ferrari accepting crypto as payment

Major Italian luxury car brand Ferrari is now accepting crypto as a form of payment, according to a report in Reuters. This comes in the wake of requests from wealthy customers, said the firm’s marketing and commercial chief. 

The firm says it has seen a mixture of younger customers and traditional investors with cryptoasset holdings who wish to pay for their luxury vehicles using tokens. This puts Ferrari in lockstep with other firms such as Tesla which started taking bitcoin as a form of payment in 2021. 

One of the bigger criticisms in recent times has been that cryptoassets can’t work as currency since people don’t tend to use them as payment method. This would seem to be confounded by Ferrari's experience however and could be indicative of changes to come further down the spectrum as other firms become more flexible with what payment forms they accept. 

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