This week saw a flurry of activity in the crypto market, with Ark Invest, Binance, Bitcoin, and Terra making news. Here are some of the most noteworthy headlines:
Ark Invest’s Sell-Off
Cathie Wood’s asset management firm, Ark Invest, created a wave of speculation after selling off substantial Coinbase (COIN) shares after the stock hit a 52-week high last week. On December 28, Ark liquidated holdings in AMD, Cloudflare, Shopify, Stratasys, GBTC, COIN, and Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc. And, on December 30, Ark sold off 2,369 COIN shares as the potential window for a spot Bitcoin ETF approval in January looms. Wood’s bearish sentiment on Bitcoin and other crypto stocks seems to suggest that the SEC may approve the ETF.
Binance’s Listing Spree
Binance, one of the leading crypto exchanges, upped its game this week with the announcement of new margin trading pairs for major digital currencies, including ADA, DOGE, LINK, and MATIC, in FDUSD pairs. The exchange’s native token, BNB, also experienced a surge in value following the integration of Sleepless AI. This allows users to farm AI tokens by staking BNB, FDUSD, and TUSD from December 28. Binance Futures also launched USDC-margined perpetual contracts for Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, Solana, and XRP, beginning January 3.
Bitcoin’s Run-Up
Ahead of the spot Bitcoin ETF approval, Bitcoin saw a massive influx of $87.6 million, with a Short-bitcoin inflow of $0.4 million. With eight Bitcoin ETF issuers, including Grayscale, submitting updated S-1 forms disclosing changes like authorized participants (APs) and fees before the U.S. SEC’s December 29 deadline, speculation is rife.
Terra Community’s Voting
The Terra community made headlines this week as it rejected a proposal to burn 800 million USTC over disagreements regarding the motion’s potential impact. However, the community proceeded to vote on an 8 million USTC community pool burn proposal, with 28% in favor and 71% against the motion, and 1% “No with veto”.
