The spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recently launched in the United States have seen combined negative outflows for the first time since their debut on January 11, with withdrawals from Grayscale’s GBTC outpacing inflows.

Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade is set to dramatically reduce transaction costs, according to developers, and the upgrade has now seen them set a timeline for its release according to a recent blog post from the Ethereum Foundation.

After a consultation on a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the UK’s central bank the Bank of England and HM Treasury have revealed their intention to prioritize “privacy and control.”

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Bitcoin ETFs See First Net Outflow as GBTC Loses Ground
• Ethereum Developers Set Timeline for Dencun Upgrade
• Bank of England Emphasizes Privacy in Potential CBDC Launch
• Crypto Market Movers – UMA, ENS, RBN

Bitcoin ETFs See First Net Outflow as GBTC Loses Ground

The spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recently launched in the United States have seen combined negative outflows for the first time since their debut on January 11, with withdrawals from Grayscale’s GBTC outpacing inflows.

Bloomberg Intelligence's James Seyffart has shared data that shows that 10 spot bitcoin ETFs recorded inflows in their ninth day of trading, but couldn’t keep up with the net outflow of $429 million seen in GBTC.

The total amount of Bitcoin held by all spot Bitcoin ETFs is around 649,000 after dropping by more than 11,000 BTC a week earlier.  According to a website tracking the BTC holdings of companies and funds, over 816,700 BTC are currently held by exchange-traded products.

While GBTC has seen significant outflows that took its total Bitcoin holdings from 592,098 to 523,516, both BlackRock’s IBIt and Fidelity’s FBTC ETFs are showing positive trends, each now holding over 40,000 BTC and nearing $2 billion in assets under management.

Ethereum Developers Set Timeline for Dencun Upgrade

Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade is set to dramatically reduce transaction costs, according to developers, and the upgrade has now seen them set a timeline for its release according to a recent blog post from the Ethereum Foundation.

The organization has outlined the upcoming completion of the Sepolia and Holesky testnets, with the upgrade first being launched on Sepolia on January 30, before moving to Holesky on February 7. The Dencun upgrade, as a result, should be on Ethereum’s mainnet by March.

The post notes that Dencun will be scheduled on the Ethereum mainnet after it’s successfully tested on the Sepolia and Holesky testnets.

The Ethereum network has been historically hampered by congestion issues, leading to high transaction fees and delays during times of heightened network activity, which have priced out users with smaller amounts.

Through Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 4844, or proto-danksharding, the upgrade aims to address these issues by enhancing the network's capacity to handle over 100,000 transactions per second by making Ethereum layer-2 solutions cheaper.

Bank of England Emphasizes Privacy in Potential CBDC Launch

After a consultation on a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the UK’s central bank the Bank of England and HM Treasury have revealed their intention to prioritize “privacy and control.”

In a recently issued notice, the Bank of England revealed “no final decision has been made” on whether it will be launching a digital pound, although officials are actively exploring the possibilities and potential design of a central bank digital currency.

Both the BoE and HM Treasury have maintained committed to “protect access” to traditional cash, offering a digital pound as an additional payment method if it comes to fruition.

The central bank added that a digital pound would “guarantee users’ privacy and control,” and that neither the BoE or the Government would have access to users’ personal data, while users would maintain “freedom in how they spent their digital pounds.”

Amidst public concerns about potential government surveillance and privacy erosion with a digital pound, the U.K. government has urged the BoE and HM Treasury for more transparency about the costs and implications of introducing a CBDC. If one is to be launched, its earliest projected rollout would be no earlier than 2025.

Crypto Market Movers – UMA, ENS, RBN

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.

Uma (UMA) - UMA is an open-source blockchain protocol that enables the creation, management, and settlement of decentralized financial contracts, also known as synthetic assets or derivatives. UMA allows users to create and customize their own financial contracts, providing a permissionless and decentralized way to create and trade synthetic assets on the blockchain.

Ethereum Name Service (ENS) - ENS is a distributed, open, and extensible naming system based on the Ethereum blockchain. It was created by the Ethereum Foundation and developed with the help of a community of developers.

Ribbon Finance (RBN) - RBN is a comprehensive suite of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. Its focus is to facilitate user access to crypto-structured products through a mix of derivatives, lending, and a proprietary on-chain options exchange known as Aevo. With this combination, Ribbon aspires to serve as a one-stop solution for those aiming to optimize their portfolios' risk-return profiles.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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