The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, has filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF), called the iShares Ethereum Trust.

Leading stablecoin issuer Tether, the company behind USDT, is moving to become one of the world's leading Bitcoin miners, making a hefty investment in the competitive sector through the construction of its own mining facilities and taking stakes in other firms.

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has suggested that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could replace physical cash in the global financial system.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• BlackRock Files for Spot Ether ETF
• Tether to Spend $500 Million on Bitcoin Mining Expansion
• IMF Exec Says CBDCs Could Replace Cash in the Future
• Crypto Market Movers – RUNE, KAS, YFI

BlackRock Files for Spot Ether ETF

The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, has filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF), called the iShares Ethereum Trust.

The fund aims to “reflect generally the performance of the price of Ether,” according to the S-1 filed with the SEC. iShares is the brand associated with BlackRock’s ETF products, with its proposed spot Bitcoin ETF being called the iShares Bitcoin Trust.

Coinbase will be the custodian of the ETH held by the spot ETH ETF. BlackRock’s move follows its registration of the iShares Ethereum Trust with Delaware’s Division of Corporations a week earlier and its filing for a spot Bitcoin ETF six months ago.

To list a spot ETF, the issuer needs to get the approval of two divisions of the SEC: the Trading and Markets division through its 19b-4 filing and the Corporate Finance division for its S-1 filing or prospectus.

The race for a spot Ethereum ETF started in early November when Grayscale Investments, the largest crypto asset manager, got the SEC’s acknowledgement for its application to turn its Ethereum trust into an ETF.

Tether to Spend $500 Million on Bitcoin Mining Expansion

Leading stablecoin issuer Tether, the company behind USDT, is moving to become one of the world's leading Bitcoin miners, making a hefty investment in the competitive sector through the construction of its own mining facilities and taking stakes in other firms.

According to Tether’s incoming Chief Executive Officer Paolo Ardoino, the company plans to spend around $500 million over the next six months as part of its push to become a top Bitcoin miner.

The investment includes part of a $610 million credit line that Tether gave to publicly-traded Bitcoin mining firm Northern Data this month, after buying some of its shares in September.

Tether currently earns money by managing USDT’s $87 billion reserve, which consists of US Treasury bills and other assets. As of September 30, the firm had accumulated around $3.2 billion in surplus cash, and invested $800 million of its profits in various fields related to industry research.

According to Ardoino, Tether is setting up Bitcoin mining sites in Uruguay, Paraguay, and El Salvador. The sites will have a power capacity of 40 to 70 megawatts each, as Tether plans to grow its share of the Bitcoin hashrate – the computational power supporting the network - to 1%.

By the end of 2023, Tether plans to have 120 megawatts of power capacity for its own direct mining operations, and projects it could reach 450 megawatts by the end of 2025.

IMF Exec Says CBDCs Could Replace Cash in the Future

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has suggested that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could replace physical cash in the global financial system.

Speaking at the Singapore Fintech Festival, Kristalina Georgieva said that countries are actively investigating CBDCs and developing regulations to “guide digital money developments,”.

While immediate adoption is not imminent, she noted that approximately 60% of nations are in the process of exploring CBDCs, recognizing their potential to improve financial inclusion, particularly in areas where traditional banking services are limited.

The IMF’s newly released CBDC Virtual Handbook reinforces this sentiment, noting that well-designed CBDCs could help bridge financial gaps and foster more inclusive economic growth.

Georgieva stressed the importance of improving cross-border payments, and said that AI and blockchain technologies could enhance the advantages of CBDCs, such as increasing financial inclusion and facilitating faster and easier credit reports.

Crypto Market Movers – RUNE, KAS, YFI

Several tokens are leading the charge in the last 7-day period. Some of these are well-known cryptocurrencies with more liquid trading pairs, so we’ll be focusing on these over low-cap cryptos that may have higher percentage changes.

Thorchain (RUNE) - Thorchain is a decentralized liquidity network that facilitates cross-chain swaps between different cryptocurrencies. It enables users to trade their digital assets across various blockchain networks without the need for centralized exchanges or intermediaries. Thorchain operates as a non-custodial platform, which means that users remain in control of their assets throughout the entire trading process.

Kaspa (KAS) - Kaspa is a decentralized, open-source, and community-driven cryptocurrency project that leverages blockDAG technology as opposed to traditional blockchain. Designed to overcome the trilemma of security, scalability, and decentralization, Kaspa aims to deliver fast, secure, and scalable transactions while maintaining a high degree of decentralization.

Yearn.Finance (YFI) - Yearn.finance is a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that aims to simplify and optimize yield farming. It is a platform that allows users to automatically find and invest in the highest-yielding opportunities in DeFi, without having to manually navigate multiple platforms and protocols.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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