From SK Pension Fund Buying Coinbase stock to Polygon gas fees spiking, here is a 2-minute breakdown of everything important that happened in crypto today.
The FTX telenovela feels like a distant memory now. With SBF's trial over, the crypto sphere has gone back to business as usual. But "usual" means a whole lotta boredom these days!
The SEC's glacial pace on spot ETF filings means we'll be holding our breath until January for any movement.
But today we've got a handful of stories to stimulate those crypto-loving brains! It may not be as wild as the gossip-filled days of yore, but we'll take what we can get.
On the docket today:
- A pension fund bet big on Coinbase stock 📈
- BlackRock wants an Ethereum ETF 💹
- Money laundering in crypto 👮
- Tether's going all in on mining Bitcoin now ⛏️
- Polygon gas fees spiked, deja vu anyone? 💸
Let's dive into the nitty gritty of each story! The drama may have died down but our hunger for crypto news never will. 😎
Pension Fund Buys Coinbase Stock 📈
A major South Korean pension fund bought nearly $20 million worth of Coinbase stock. This reflects the country's growing embrace of crypto, after passing landmark legislation this year.
Pension funds are normally wary of risky bets like crypto. But this shows perceptions slowly changing as digital assets mature.
Of course, buying before the bull market means this fund scored Coinbase shares at a steep discount.
BlackRock Files for Spot Ethereum ETF 💹
An Ether ETF would let mainstream investors easily bet on Ethereum's price moves. Understandably people got excited, bumping Ethereum up a bit. But BlackRock's still impatiently waiting on the SEC's snail-paced decision about its Bitcoin ETF filing from months ago.
Trio Charged for Crypto Laundering 👮
Tether’s Bitcoin Mining Expansion ⛏️
Tether is tapping debt financing and partnerships to quickly scale up operations in Latin America and beyond. Makes sense to diversify away from just issuing stablecoins. But some may question if stablecoin issuers should become miners. Consolidation of power always raises uneasy questions in crypto's decentralized ethos.
More information on the countries it selected as its preferred mining sites!
And that brings us to our Word of the Day!
It’s ‘Hash Rate’!
Hash rate, in simple terms, refers to how many cryptocurrency transaction calculations a mining machine can perform each second. The higher the hash rate, the faster it can mine and earn rewards.
Miners want to maximize the hash rate to be competitive. Upgrading hardware and using faster chips increases the hash rate.
But as more miners join the network and upgrade gear, the overall difficulty goes up. A hash rate that was lucrative earlier becomes insufficient over time.
So miners need to continually invest in better equipment just to maintain profitability. It creates an arms race dynamic as miners scramble to boost their hash rate against rising network difficulty.
Now back to our daily stories!
Polygon Gas Fees Spike 💸
That wraps up the key headlines today. Stay tuned for more crypto insights!