U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed its decisions on the spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) proposed by several companies. The delays of the applications of financial powerhouse Blackrock, asset manager Valkyrie and others come ahead of an expected government shutdown that would affect the SEC.

U.S. Securities Regulator Pushes Back Verdicts on Multiple Bitcoin ETF Applications

The future of a number of attempts to issue spot bitcoin ETFs in the United States remains unclear after the country’s regulatory body overseeing the securities market delayed its decisions again. The move concerns the high-profile application of investment giant Blackrock as well as those of Valkyrie, Bitwise, and Invesco, according to filings on Thursday.

The development follows the postponing of the verdict on the Ark 21shares and Global X spot bitcoin ETFs earlier this week. The first was jointly proposed by Cboe BZX Exchange, 21shares, and Ark Invest, while the second was submitted by Global X and Cboe BZX.

The latest delays come after at the end of August the SEC deferred its judgement on seven funds, including those of Wisdomtree, Vaneck, and Fidelity. The deadline for some of them is in the second half of October. Among the candidates is also Franklin Templeton which joined the race this month.

According to Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart, the delay orders, which come earlier than expected, are due to the looming partial U.S. government shutdown. The latter would leave the SEC with “skeletal” staff, its Chair Gary Gensler warned lawmakers on Wednesday.

The Commission and other government agencies would have to furlough federal employees if the parties in Congress fail to agree on their funding. In his post on X, formerly Twitter, Seyffart added to the list of expected delays the applications of Vaneck, Wisdomtree, and Fidelity as well.

The SEC may further delay its decisions early next year. The regulator may also try to appeal a court decision in favor of Grayscale from August which gave hope for bitcoin ETFs in America. The crypto asset manager had challenged the SEC’s decision to deny the conversion of its Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to a spot bitcoin ETF with judges describing it as “arbitrary and capricious.”

When do you expect the SEC to announce its verdict on any of the spot bitcoin ETF applications? Tell us in comments section below.

Virginia’s Democratic representative Don Beyer has ushered in a fresh bill mandating the documentation of off-chain transactions and over-the-counter (OTC) crypto engagements by cryptocurrency exchanges, to be catalogued in a repository under the purview of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

New Legislation Targets Off-Chain Transfers in Crypto Industry

Representative Don Beyer (D-VA), has unveiled a new legislative piece reportedly aimed at safeguarding stakeholders in the digital assets arena. Titled the “Off-Chain Digital Commodity Transaction Reporting Act,” this bill mandates “trading platforms to report all transactions to a repository registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).”

Beyer posits that crypto trading platforms bear the responsibility for “reporting all such transactions to a registered digital asset repository of transactions as soon as technically practicable after the execution of each such transaction.” Under Beyer’s legislation, all off-chain digital asset transactions are to be reported within a 24-hour window. Off-chain transactions may encompass peer-to-peer swaps, OTC trades, and even the simple transfer of reserve assets.

“As consumers increasingly turn to large digital asset trading platforms to conduct their business, thousands of transactions each day are conducted off the publicly verifiable blockchain,” Beyer remarked on Thursday. “Unfortunately, internal record keeping among these private entities can vary wildly, and this can leave investors and consumers vulnerable to fraud and manipulation.

The Virginia-based politician added:

This bill is a common-sense measure to restore some transparency and confidence to the digital asset market.

Beyer’s press release underscored that the advent of crypto trading platforms, coupled with an aspiration to expedite transaction times and diminish costs, leads to thousands of transactions transpiring “off-chain” daily, absent from the public eye on the blockchain.

The bureaucrat posits that numerous platforms uphold internal private ledgers to chronicle transactions, though the integrity of these records can fluctuate. Beyer fervently contends that such inconsistencies might pave the way for disputes, manipulation, or fraud, emphasizing that the objective of this legislation is to shield ordinary investors.

In 2023, Democratic policy architects have set their sights on cryptocurrency markets, with nine U.S. legislators rallying behind U.S. senator Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act. Yet, a wave of Democratic voters have expressed disdain for Warren’s and the party’s stance on crypto, declaring their intent to cast ballots against the Democrats due to this issue.

What do you think about the politician’s new bill that would require crypto platforms to submit off-chain records to the CFTC in 24 hours? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.

Numerous reports foretell an imminent U.S. government shutdown, given the anticipated failure of a spending bill to secure passage by Saturday evening — a measure meant to sustain operations till mid-November. On the cusp of this shutdown, bitcoin (BTC) has been on an ascent, catching the eye of many. Coinshares analyst Luke Nolan notes a buoyant sentiment among some traders, who view the government’s looming closure with a favorable lens.

Bitcoin Rides the Wave of Uncertainty as U.S. Braces for Government Shutdown

The U.S. government could shut down this weekend if Democrats and Republican policymakers can’t come to an agreement on spending. Currently, there’s a bill on the table that aims to extend the government’s pay until mid-November, but a number of Republicans and Kevin McCarthy, the current House of Representatives speaker, are not budging on negotiations.

The two chambers find themselves at a deadlock, and should the bipartisan proposal aimed at averting a shutdown fail to gain approval by midnight on Saturday, the government will be compelled to close its doors.

On Friday, Coinshares analyst Luke Nolan told Barron’s that certain market participants harbor the belief that the impending shutdown will serve as a bullish catalyst for bitcoin and the broader crypto economy.

“Some participants view the possible government shutdown as bullish for cryptocurrencies, as it plays directly into the narrative of non-sovereign currencies not being affected by government procedure,” Nolan explained to Barron’s contributor Jack Denton.

Nolan added:

The possible shutdown is a large-scale reflection of the periodic dysfunction of due process, which fits well into the philosophical narrative of cryptocurrencies.

The previous hiatus that the U.S. government navigated spanned 35 days, lasting from December 2018 to January 2019. According to CNN, a “shutdown could have enormous impacts across the country, from air travel to clean drinking water. Many government operations would come to a halt, while services deemed ‘essential’ would continue.”

As the specter of a government shutdown looms closer, both equity markets and crypto assets have enjoyed an uptick in value. Bitcoin notably vaulted above the $27K threshold on September 29. “Despite large-scale equity weakness across most sectors … Bitcoin currently sits at a nine-day high, reclaiming an important push-and-pull level at $27,000,” Nolan conveyed to Denton.

What do you think about the traders who view the shutdown as a good thing for bitcoin? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.

Su Zhu, a founding member of the now-insolvent Three Arrows Capital, was apprehended in Singapore at Changi Airport on Friday, as per the firm’s liquidator, Teneo. Zhu received a four-month prison sentence for failing to cooperate in the bankruptcy proceedings, Teneo revealed.

Crackdown at Changi Airport: 3AC’s Su Zhu Detained, Associate Kyle Davies Fugitive

Teneo, overseeing the liquidation of Three Arrows Capital, reported that co-founder Su Zhu was seized and sentenced to four months’ incarceration. His associate, Kyle Davies, remains at large; however, Teneo confirmed he was given an identical penalty.

Zhu allegedly tried to flee Singapore when he was intercepted at Changi Airport, situated approximately 25 miles east of Singapore’s Downtown Core. The Singapore court decreed that Zhu and Davies had not been collaborating with the liquidation procedure – an issue previously reported by the media months prior to his apprehension.

The defunct Singapore-based cryptocurrency hedge fund once supervised over $10 billion in assets at its height. However, a confluence of perilous trading tactics, Terra’s collapse, and plummeting cryptocurrency values obliterated the firm’s assets. Consequently, 3AC declared bankruptcy and was mandated to liquidate by a British Virgin Islands court on June 27, 2022.

Squawk Box posted on X that Kyle Davies, the co-founder of Three Arrows Capital, was asked if he was in Bali because Indonesia is one of seven countries that will not extradite him to the United States. While that interview was in November 2022, Davies is believed to be still in Bali.

What do you think about the 3AC co-founder’s arrest? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.

Amid the soaring network difficulty, Bitcoin’s hashrate remains resilient, firmly holding above the 400 exahash per second (EH/s) frontier. A total of 43 mining pools channel their hashpower at the Bitcoin blockchain, yet, it’s Foundry USA’s pool that ruled the roost this month, seizing a 29.36% share of the total hashrate over the past 30 days.

Bitcoin Miners Unfazed: Hashrate Remains Strong Despite Soaring Difficulty

The forthcoming difficulty adjustment, slated for October 3, 2023, looms, yet the climb to a formidable 57.12 trillion in difficulty hasn’t swayed miners. Metrics spanning seven days signal that the hashrate has averaged at a robust 417 EH/s, especially after cresting to an all-time high (433 EH/s) on September 19 concerning seven-day averages.

On Friday, September 29, a collective of 43 mining pools are channeling their SHA256 hashrate into the network. A mere two days ago, Bitcoin’s hash price index dipped beneath the $60 per petahash daily marker, yet with BTC’s price on a subsequent upswing, the hash price ascended to the current $61.32 per petahash a day.

Within the last 30 days’ span, bitcoin miners have unveiled a sum of 4,414 block rewards, with Foundry USA claiming 1,296 of these blocks. Foundry has reigned supreme with 29.36% over the last 30 days concerning total hashrate recorded.

Antpool emerged as the second leading operation among mining pools regarding hashpower, having discovered 1,043 blocks since the previous month, translating to 23.63% of the 30-day hashrate aggregate. Trailing behind Foundry and Antpool were F2pool, Viabtc, and Binance Pool.

While Foundry and Antpool orchestrated 52.99% of the hashrate over the prior month, the other three top pools added an additional 30.77% to the network’s 30-day total. While the recent difficulty alteration hasn’t deterred the miners, projections denote a rise for the impending October 3 retarget.

What are your thoughts on the hashrate sustaining, even while the network’s difficulty scales to unprecedented peaks? Share your views and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.

XRP was one of Friday’s notable crypto gainers, rallying to a one-month high earlier in today’s session. Bullish sentiment returned to end the week, with the global market cap trading nearly 1.5% higher as of writing. Solana also surged, moving back above the $20.00 mark.

XRP

XRP, formerly ripple, was one of today’s biggest movers, climbing by as much as 5% earlier in the day.

Following a low of $0.5036 yesterday, XRP/USD raced to a peak of $0.5455 during Friday’s session.

This resulted in the token hitting its highest point since August 29, which is the last time price hit a ceiling of $0.5490.

Looking at the chart, it appears that the move came as the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) rose beyond a ceiling of its own at 56.00.

As of writing, the index is tracking at 58.67, with the next visible point of support near the 60.00 mark.

In the event the 60.00 ceiling is broken, there is a good chance that XRP will climb beyond $0.5500.

Solana (SOL)

In addition to XRP, solana (SOL) also rallied strongly on Friday, rising above $20.00 in the process.

SOL/USD climbed to a high of $20.32 earlier in today’s session, following Thursday’s low at $19.22.

This surge has seen solana hit a nine-day high, which comes after three straight days of bullish momentum.

Overall, the uptrend comes as the 10-day (red) moving average rose above its 25-day (blue) counterpart.

Bulls are likely now targeting a higher resistance level of $21.00, which would result in a four-week high.

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Could solana hit $21.00 this weekend? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Gold prices are wrapping up the week by plummeting to a nine-month low, with the price per ounce descending to $1,858 on Thursday. Transitioning into Friday, gold is changing hands at $1,870 per ounce, marking a decline of 2.8% over the trailing five days. Concurrently, bitcoin (BTC) prices leaped on Thursday, and have ascended by 1.5% against the U.S. dollar over the course of the week.

Gold’s Downward Dive Mirrors Skyrocketing Bond Yields in a Market Stressed by Fed Policies

Precious metals such as gold and silver are on a descending trajectory, with an ounce of gold now 3.5% lower than its value 30 days prior. Silver too has faced a sharper decline, shedding 6.6% over the past month and 2.9% in the preceding five-day span. The leading duo of precious metals markets is enduring strain, a situation many attribute to the hawkish monetary stance emanating from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The Fed’s pronounced quantitative tightening coupled with elevated interest rates is propelling bond yields upward, thereby amplifying the vigor of the greenback. Bond yields are soaring to unprecedented heights even against a somber economic horizon looming ahead. Peter Boockvar from Bleakley Advisors remarked on Thursday that the “epic sovereign bond bubble continues to unwind.”

Following a prolonged period of inversion, the spread between long- and short-term yields in bond markets has been reverting, albeit for unsavory reasons. “This to me feels like it should lead to a tightening of financial conditions, with a sharp rise in real yields and commodity prices, even though the Fed has told us it isn’t going to be hiking a lot more,” articulated Subadra Rajappa, the chief of U.S. rates strategy at Société Générale, on Thursday.

Rajappa added:

So the propagation of this pain is going to be through the markets, such as the mortgage market or credit market, where issuance is linked to benchmark yields like the 5- or 10-year rates. They are all going to start coming under pressure.

Economists at ANZ Bank suggest that the charm of gold returns may wane until the U.S. central bank makes a turn on interest rates. The allure of precious metals is thought to be poised for a resurgence next year, as the analysts at ANZ Bank forecast a diminishing vigor in the greenback’s strength.

“History suggests gold returns remain decent during rate hiking cycles and outperform during easing and a lower rate environment,” the ANZ market strategists note. “The negative beta with the U.S. yield weakens during hiking cycles and strengthens during easing cycles.”

The financial institution’s analysts added:

USD strength is likely to wane in 2024. While we think appreciation in the USD will sustain to year-end, firmer expectations of rate cuts and slowing economic growth momentum will see the USD dropping again next year.

Amid the descent of gold, bitcoin’s (BTC) price has ascended, breaching the $27K per unit mark on September 29. BTC bulls have successfully propelled market prices upward amidst economic ambiguity, with traders amassing profits. Bitcoin has mirrored the uptick in equity markets, as all four U.S. benchmark indices concluded Thursday on a positive note, and futures markets hint at a modest incline come Friday afternoon.

What do you think about gold’s downturn while bitcoin rises higher in value? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.

Bitcoin continued to trade above the $27,000 level on Friday, after a surge beyond this point towards the end of yesterday’s session. Ethereum rallied to a one-week high.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin remained above the $27,000 level on Friday, following a late rise in bullish sentiment towards the end of Thursday’s session.

Following a low of $26,424.95 on Thursday, BTC/USD raced to an intraday high of $27,259.50 earlier in the day.

As a result of the move, bitcoin rose to its highest level since September 20, when price peaked at $27,393.00.

However, earlier gains have since edged lower, largely due to a collision which took place on the relative strength index (RSI).

Looking at the chart, the index was unable to push past a resistance level of 58.00, and has since fallen to a reading of 56.57.

Traders could be awaiting the release of this afternoon’s consumer sentiment report in the United States, prior to deciding their next move.

Ethereum

Ethereum (ETH) continued to trend higher on Friday, breaking out of a key resistance level in the process.

ETH/USD peaked at $1,687.28 earlier in today’s session, which comes a day after trading at a low of $1,620.68.

This surge has resulted in ethereum climbing over a long held ceiling at $1,670, hitting a one-month high in the process.

The latest uptrend coincided with the relative strength index moving beyond a ceiling of its own at 57.00. It is now tracking at 58.61.

Bulls will likely remain unsatisfied until they take ethereum back above $1,700, which hasn’t happened since the end of August.

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Will ethereum extend this rally into the weekend? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

According to Mohammed El Kandri, event organizers battling the ticket scalping problem have a greater chance of overcoming this challenge if they deploy a blockchain-based ticketing solution. A blockchain-based solution allows event organizers to issue digital tickets that are “tamper-proof and traceable.”

Growing Dissatisfaction With the Way Tickets Are Distributed

Blockchain is a technology with the potential to turn the tide against ticket-scalping syndicates, Mohammed El Kandri, the founder of the blockchain startup Ir4lab, has said. Since transparency and traceability are some of the key attributes of blockchain, using this tech to tackle the ticket scalping scourge is a “no-brainer,” El Kandri added.

El Kandri and others’ call on event organizers to adopt blockchain-based solutions is coming at a time when fan dissatisfaction with the way tickets to events like music concerts or football matches are distributed is on the rise. Some event goers accuse shadowy groups of deliberately starving the primary market where tickets are sold at official prices.

According to critics of the current ticketing system, this situation often results in some concertgoers paying up to ten times more than the official price to get a ticket to an event. To back these claims, a 2020 report by Technavio estimated the value of the global ticket secondary market to be just over $15 billion.

Blockchain Transparency and Traceability

Therefore, to counter this problem, some consumer advocacy groups have called for the passage of so-called anti-scalping laws. El Kandri, however, told Bitcoin.com News that a blockchain-based anti-scalping solution such as that of his startup, Doccerts, has a greater chance of succeeding. He explained:

By using the solution, we have been able to have visibility on the issuance process end to end, allowing everyone on the process to have a line of sight on what’s going on and this [in] real-time in a very transparent way. Blockchain also provides the much-needed security in a digital way without the complexity of paper-based security and verification measures available today.

To prove that a blockchain-based ticket system is what the events industry needs, El Kandri’s startup is set to “enable” its blockchain ticketing solution at an upcoming Web3 summit to be hosted by Saudi Arabia.

In addition to tackling the problem of ticket scalping, a blockchain-based solution allows event organizers to issue digital tickets that are “tamper-proof and traceable,” according to El Kandri. It also enables organizers to keep track of a ticket’s lifecycle from its creation to its redemption.

What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

PRESS RELEASE. In a trading atmosphere characterized by meticulous strategies and keen observers, the Launchpad of $UMM on LBank has emerged as a focal point of discussion. UMM’s trading trajectory seems to be on a steep upward trend, marking its territory in the competitive crypto landscape.

UMM began its trading journey at $0.1 on September 29th and experienced a meteoric rise to $1 within the first 30 minutes, representing an astonishing 1000% increase from its Launchpad initial price. This Launchpad attracted a whopping 35,229 participants, leading to a cumulative investment exceeding 52,186,338 USDT.

Launchpad Pricing Details:

On September 28th, LBank initiated a subscription quota to facilitate equitable participation for every investor. This Launchpad is topped with a hard cap, and participants who reached the maximum allowed subscription invested an estimated value of $2000 in USDT.

Launchpad Mechanics:

The structural design of the UMM Launchpad on LBank is characterized by precision and thoughtful planning. For a duration of 30 days, LBank assiduously tracked user balances across Spot, Futures, and Earn accounts. The investment quotas were meticulously calculated, considering the 30-day average balances, ensuring fair play and equal opportunities. Furthermore, to qualify, users were mandated to undertake at least one trade on LBank within this timeframe. These stringent and clear rules were set to guarantee that active and substantial asset-holding users were granted premium access to participate.

What’s the Buzz Around UMM?

UMM, abbreviated as MetaExpand, emerges as a pivotal protocol in metaversal development. It’s designed to seamlessly intertwine public chains with metaverse applications, acting as a bedrock to the burgeoning metaverse ecosystem. The protocol aims to streamline the development of user-centric and technologically sophisticated applications, featuring enhancements in storage, communication, privacy, and cross-chain transactions.

UMM allows developers to channel their focus on refining application development, bypassing the complexities of the foundational blockchain technology. Furthermore, UMM introduces its inaugural full-chain game, Jurassic Virus, set in a dystopian 2050 plagued by the Jurassic virus. This innovative gaming realm utilizes the robust capabilities of MetaExpand, introducing a unique game coin, “$Culture”, which can be earned exclusively through staking UMM and can be exchanged back to UMM upon securing victories in-game. The official launch of the Jurassic Virus game happened a few days ago on September 27th, 2023.

Market Impact:

The initial performance of UMM in the Launchpad phase has reverberated strongly within the market, promising substantial returns to risk-embracing investors. According to an internal representative from LBank, the extensive promotion and the ensuing success of this Launchpad are pivotal components of LBank’s comprehensive strategy, aimed at innovating market norms amid prevailing bearish trends. This latest round of Launchpad exemplifies that the success of $PINS was not an isolated incident, further validating that the revitalization of LBank’s Launchpad is a long-term and meticulously planned initiative. We will continue this journey with our LBankers who believe in us, advancing together towards the next bull market.

This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.