A lot is happening in the cryptocurrency market these days and what follows is a recap of some of the major developments on Thursday and earlier in the week.

Image Source: Pexels

1. Paul Tudor Jones's Views About Cryptocurrencies As An Inflation Hedge 

Billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones, in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box", claimed that surging inflation is now "the single biggest threat to certain financial markets and probably...to society in general" adding that October's 5.4% YOY CPI number, which matched readings from June and July, was perhaps the most glaring warning yet and warned that it's likely only going to get worse. He believes that cryptocurrencies are a hedge against central bank money printing and that "...crypto...is winning the race against gold at the moment [and]...would be a good inflation hedge." While Jones prefers direct ownership, he thinks the new Bitcoin ETF will be "fine" and the SEC's blessing is reassuring.

2, Latest Fear & Greed Index for Bitcoin & Other Large Cryptocurrencies Shows Extreme Greed 

According to Alternative.me's multi-factorial crypto market sentiment analysis, which gathers data daily from five sources on a simple meter from 0 to 100 to visualize a meaningful progress in sentiment change of the crypto market. Zero means “Extreme Fear”, while 100 means “Extreme Greed”. When Investors are getting too greedy it means the market is due for a correction and the current Index reading is 75, down from 82 yesterday. See here for the latest reading.

3. 50 Experts Say Bitcoin Will Reach Over $5M By 2030 - Yes, $5M!

50 industry experts were asked in late September to early October by finder.com for their thoughts on how Bitcoin will perform over the next decade and their average view (see here) was that Bitcoin will be worth US$71,415 by the end of 2021, before rising to US$249,578 by 2025 and reaching US$5,237,082 by 2030.

4. Bitcoin Is Going To $500,000! Here's Why

According to Luke Lango's Hypergrowth Investing article this week (see here), gold is typically bought as a store of value to protect against inflation, but this year, instead of buying gold, they’re buying Bitcoin. Lango maintains that since the gold market is an $11 trillion market were Bitcoin to get that big, you’re talking an $11 trillion market on 21 million tokens, which implies a price per token of about $500,000. 

5. New ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF Launched This Week

According to a private investor from the Netherlands, the new ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), which started trading this week, will be a game-changer for the crypto market making the process of investing in Bitcoins considerably easier, safer, and more convenient for these 5 major reasons.

6. Walmart Pilot Program Allowing Customers To Purchase Bitcoin and Redeem It For Merchandise  

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) has launched a pilot program that allows customers to purchase bitcoin (BTC-USD) through Coinstar kiosks - enabled by Coinme, a crypto wallet and payment firm that specializes in bitcoin ATMs (BTMs) - in 200 of its stores across the United States. After inserting bills into the machine, a paper voucher is issued. The next stage involves setting up a Coinme account and passing a know-your-customer (KYC) check before the voucher can be redeemed. The machine charges a 4% fee for the bitcoin option, plus another 7% cash exchange fee, according to the Coinstar website and verified by CoinDesk.

7. Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF To Launch Today & Become Second Bitcoin Futures ETF

A second U.S. Bitcoin futures ETF will reportedly hit the market Friday, with the Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BTF) set to take on the hot new ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (NYSEARCA:BITO) then.

8. VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF Set To Launch Next Monday

VanEck wrote in a U.S. Securities Exchange Commission filing Wednesday that its new VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BATS:XBTF) will be available “as soon as practicable" after this coming Saturday, Oct. 23. That presumably would mean next Monday, Oct. 25. Like BITO, the VanEck ETF will offer investors a way to gain exposure to Bitcoin (BTC-USD) through the futures market.

9. Grayscale Investments Hopes To Convert Its Bitcoin Trust Into a Bitcoin Spot ETF

Grayscale Investments announced Tuesday that it's filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to convert the popular Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTC:GBTC) into a Bitcoin spot ETF.

10. Interactive Brokers Has Introduced Cryptocurrency Trading For Registered Investment Advisors

Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ:IBKR) has introduced cryptocurrency trading for registered investment advisors in the U.S., allowing them to trade and custody bitcoin (BTC-USD), ethereum (ETH-USD), litecoin (LTC-USD) and bitcoin cash (BCH-USD) via Paxos Trust on behalf of clients.