Table of Contents
- According To a Source, BlackRock is Nearing The Submission of Its Application For a Bitcoin ETF
- On The Same Day as The Mainnet Launch, EigenLayer’s Restaking Smart Contracts Have Reached Their Maximum Limit, Attracting a Substantial $16 Million
- Trading Platform Bybit Incorporates ChatGPT Into Its Suite of Tools for Cryptocurrency Exchange
- deBridge, the Cross-Chain Bridge, Introduces Trading App Enabling Liquidity Pool-Free Transactions
- Sotheby’s Achieves a Total of $10.9 Million in Their Second 3AC NFT Sale, With The Artwork Titled ‘The Goose’ Alone Fetching an Impressive $6.2 Million
According To a Source, BlackRock is Nearing The Submission of Its Application For a Bitcoin ETF
According to an individual familiar with the situation, BlackRock, the largest asset manager globally, is on the verge of submitting an application for a Bitcoin ETF (exchange-traded fund).
The source also mentioned that BlackRock intends to utilize Coinbase Custody for the ETF and rely on the crypto exchange’s spot market data for pricing.
Coinbase declined to provide any comments regarding this matter.
Last year, BlackRock began collaborating with Coinbase to enable direct access to cryptocurrencies for institutional investors; however, it remains unclear whether the upcoming ETF will be based on spot or futures.
Requests for comment from BlackRock have not yet received a response.
Thus far, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which oversees ETFs in the United States, has turned down all proposals for a spot bitcoin ETF, while approving various bitcoin futures ETFs for trading.
On The Same Day as The Mainnet Launch, EigenLayer’s Restaking Smart Contracts Have Reached Their Maximum Limit, Attracting a Substantial $16 Million
EigenLayer, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, experienced the maximum limit of its initial restaking smart contracts on Wednesday, coinciding with the launch of the highly anticipated protocol on the Ethereum mainnet.
These contracts enabled users to “restake” ether (ETH) and utilize it as a security measure for other platforms.
The contracts attracted a significant amount of attention, with 9,600 tokens valued at over $16 million being involved.
Among Ethereum smart contracts deployed in the past week, EigenLayer’s three restaking pools, consisting of stETH, rETH, and cbETH liquid staking tokens, witnessed the highest influx of capital within the last 24 hours from wallets associated with “smart money” traders and institutions.
These wallets were identified by blockchain analytics firm Nansen, and notable depositors into EigenLayer’s stETH, rETH, and cbETH pools included the address responsible for deploying the U.S.-sanctioned Tornado Cash money mixing tool, as well as an address connected to Hassan Bassiri, the former vice president of portfolio management at crypto hedge fund Arca.
EigenLayer’s restaking system allows Ethereum stakers, individuals who lock up tokens to support Ethereum’s operations, to utilize their interest-earning staked ETH for “extending cryptoeconomic security to additional applications on the network and earning additional rewards,” as stated in the protocol’s documentation.
According to the protocol’s Twitter account, the contract limits for EigenLayer’s restaking will be increased in the following weeks and months.
The substantial initial inflows into EigenLayer’s smart contracts signify a strong vote of confidence in the EigenLayer team and demonstrate the demand for the restaking market, according to Steven Quinn, the head of Research at staking service provider P2P.
Quinn further added that restaking has the potential to significantly enhance the real yield of ETH staking by expanding its utility as collateral to secure additional protocols.
This competition for ETH capital between revenue sources and inflation is deemed beneficial for the health of applications and Ethereum itself, as the current DeFi yields heavily rely on unsustainable token inflation.
EigenLayer successfully raised $50 million in a Series A funding round in March 2023, with participation from prominent investors such as Blockchain Capital, Electric Capital, Polychain Capital, Hack VC, Finality Capital Partners, and Coinbase Ventures.
Trading Platform Bybit Incorporates ChatGPT Into Its Suite of Tools for Cryptocurrency Exchange
Bybit, a cryptocurrency exchange, has announced the integration of a market data analysis tool powered by ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) system.
The newly introduced feature, known as ToolsGPT, functions as an AI chatbot within the platform, enabling users to obtain information on technical analysis, backtested price data, and other vital metrics.
By utilizing this tool, traders on Bybit will have the capability to analyze historical data and technical indicators to predict future price trends.
Developed by startup OpenAI, ChatGPT is a chatbot leveraging natural language processing and was launched in November 2022.
Its release garnered significant interest, fueling what some refer to as an “AI arms race.” As the AI trend permeates various industries, including the crypto sector, companies are actively seeking ways to incorporate artificial intelligence into their operations.
By integrating ChatGPT into Bybit Tools, Bybit’s CEO, Ben Zhou, emphasized that users will gain access to more comprehensive information, enhancing their decision-making processes.
deBridge, the Cross-Chain Bridge, Introduces Trading App Enabling Liquidity Pool-Free Transactions
deBridge, a service facilitating cross-chain bridging, has unveiled DLN Trade, a cross-chain exchange that enables swift and capital-efficient native trading across diverse blockchains, as announced by developers.
DLN Trade employs a global liquidity engine to establish a decentralized order book, allowing direct trading between assets on different chains without the limitations and risks associated with liquidity pools.
Liquidity pools encompass a collection of tokens locked on decentralized exchanges, which are employed to facilitate trading for those tokens in the open market.
Instead of relying on a liquidity pool, DLN Trade utilizes peer-to-peer liquidity for executing trades.
According to developers, DLN Trade presents users with unparalleled speed, capital efficiency, and control.
All trades are safeguarded against slippage, MEV (Miner Extractable Value), and the possibility of reversion, and are guaranteed at rates with fees as low as 4bps.
Furthermore, users have the ability to set cross-chain limit orders and cancel them before fulfillment.
Even a $10,000,000 cross-chain trade can be executed at the same low rate as a $1,000 trade, as stated by the developers.
DLN Trade asserts that its application allows users to trade across chains without relying on wrapped assets or liquidity pools, a unique offering compared to other existing services in the market.
The DLN app is currently live, supporting Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Fantom, BNB Chain, and Avalanche.
Sotheby’s Achieves a Total of $10.9 Million in Their Second 3AC NFT Sale, With The Artwork Titled ‘The Goose’ Alone Fetching an Impressive $6.2 Million
Sotheby’s recently concluded another auction featuring non-fungible token (NFT) artwork obtained from the bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), generating sales of over $10.9 million.
The live auction occurred in New York and showcased pieces from the “Grails” collection, comprising 37 works by renowned generative artists such as Dmitri Cherniak, Tyler Hobbs, Jeff Davis, and more.
A standout artwork from the collection was Dmitri Cherniak’s Ringers #879, commonly referred to as “The Goose” due to its resemblance to the bird.
Initially estimated to sell for $2-3 million, the bidding escalated, ultimately resulting in a sale price of $6.2 million to the prominent NFT investor 6529.
Sotheby’s stated in a tweet that this sale marked the second-highest price ever achieved for a work of generative art.
Notably, Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, co-founders of 3AC, had purchased “The Goose” in August 2021 for approximately 1,800 ETH, equivalent to about $5.8 million at that time.
Michael Bouhanna, Sotheby’s head of digital art and NFTs, described “The Goose” as a significant highlight of Cherniak’s portfolio and one of the most notable works from the generative art movement.
6529, the buyer, expressed the artwork’s cultural significance within the NFT community, emphasizing its unique nature as an on-chain long-form generative art piece.
The buyer mentioned the unpredictability of the algorithm’s outputs and highlighted that running the Ringers mint multiple times would not likely produce a similar piece.
They anticipate that “The Goose” will continue its historic journey through key moments in NFT history.
Other notable sales from the auction included Tyler Hobbs’ Fidenza #479, which sold for $622,300, Snowfro’s Chromie Squiggle #1780, which sold for $635,000, Larva Labs’ Autoglyph #218 and Kjetil Golid’s Archetype #397, both selling for $330,200 each.
Most of the NFTs in the auction exceeded their estimated prices.
Last month, Sotheby’s commenced a multi-part sale of NFTs from Three Arrows’ extensive collection, amassed primarily in 2021 as part of 3AC’s asset portfolio.
Three Arrows Capital, a Singapore-based hedge fund, filed for bankruptcy in July, and its liquidator Teneo aims to sell the valuable NFTs, estimated to be worth millions, to recover funds.
In the previous Grails auction, Sotheby’s reported sales of nearly $2.5 million.
Additionally, a separate selection of artworks from the Grails collection was recently sold privately for a combined total exceeding $3 million.
Overall, the liquidation sales of the Grails collection have generated almost $17 million.
Sotheby’s has described the Grails collection as encompassing “some of the most significant digital artworks ever assembled,” including groundbreaking pieces that have transformed the art world and culturally significant works.
These upcoming sales by Sotheby’s are unrelated to Starry Night Capital’s impressive NFT portfolio, established by 3AC in partnership with well-known NFT collector Vincent Van Dough in August 2021.
