Veteran hedge fund manager and bitcoin bull Bill Miller has reserved the right for one of his portfolios to indirectly gain exposure to bitcoin as the price of the cryptocurrency moves to $39,000 to re-test its all-time high.

The Ethereum blockchain has reached a new milestone, shortly after the price of ether hit a new all-time high above $1,700. The network has now processed over 1 billion transactions.

The central bank of Nigeria has ordered deposit-taking banks and other financial institutions to shut down accounts transacting in or operating cryptocurrency exchanges, saying these deals are “prohibited.”

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Bill Miller’s Opportunity Fund to Add Bitcoin Exposure via GBTC
• Ethereum Blockchain Surpasses 1 Billion Transactions
• Nigeria’s Central Bank Orders Crypto Account Closures
• DOGE, AAVE, EGLD Are Moving in the Crypto Market

Bill Miller’s Opportunity Fund to Add Bitcoin Exposure via GBTC

Veteran hedge fund manager and bitcoin bull Bill Miller has reserved the right for one of his portfolios to indirectly gain exposure to bitcoin as the price of the cryptocurrency moves to $39,000 to re-test its all-time high.

The Miller Opportunity Trust is set to invest in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Miller’s fund would not be allowed to invest more in the flagship cryptocurrency if its aggregate BTC exposure tops 15%.

Miller was one of bitcoin’s earliest proponents among major investors, saying in 2014 he personally owned the cryptocurrency. In 2017, the hedge fund manager told The Wall Street Journal that his MVP 1 fund had about 30% of its assets in BTC.

The SEC filing points out there is “relatively small use of Bitcoin in the retail and commercial marketplace in comparison to the relatively large use of Bitcoin by speculators,” leading to price volatility. The Miller Opportunity Trust fund manages $2.7 billion and has a five-year return that puts it among the top 2% among other funds.

Ethereum Blockchain Surpasses 1 Billion Transactions

The Ethereum blockchain has reached a new milestone, shortly after the price of ether hit a new all-time high above $1,700. The network has now processed over 1 billion transactions.

The Ethereum blockchain was launched back in 2015, and in 2017 broke 100,000 daily transactions for the first time. In 2018, it broke through a million as the price rose past $1,000. While a bearish period ensued, daily transactions kept on ranging between 500,000 and 1 million per day.

The range was surpassed in June of last year, when the network processed well over 1 million transactions per day partly thanks to the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) and the popularity of protocols like Uniswap and Compound.

Increased use of the ETH blockchain has seen transaction fees go up as network utilization is above 97%. The Ethereum 2.0 network upgrade is designed to help ETH scale to process a larger number of transactions.

Nigeria’s Central Bank Orders Crypto Account Closures

The central bank of Nigeria has ordered deposit-taking banks and other financial institutions to shut down accounts transacting in or operating cryptocurrency exchanges, saying these deals are “prohibited.”

Failure to comply will reportedly lead to “severe regulatory sanctions,” according to a circular sent to financial institutions late last week and later published on the central bank’s website. The country’s Securities and Exchange Commission said back in September it would regulate cryptocurrency trades to protect investors and ensure transparency.

The stance comes after protests in October against the excesses of the police’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). The protests were reportedly being supported by bitcoin donors after the government blocked local payment platforms.

DOGE, AAVE, EGLD Are Moving in the Crypto Market

Several tokens are leading the charge in the last 24-hour period. Some of these are well-known cryptocurrencies with rather liquid trading pairs, so we’ll be focusing on these over low-cap cryptos that may have higher percentage changes.

Dogecoin (DOGE) - Dogecoin is a bitcoin clone created as a meme. The cryptocurrency's community sponsored multiple high-profile events and participate in various philanthropic projects over the years.

Aave (AAVE) - Aave is a decentralized non-custodial money market protocol where users can participate as depositors or borrowers. Depositors provide liquidity to the market to earn a passive income, while borrowers are able to borrow in an overcollateralized (perpetually) or undercollateralized (one-block liquidity) fashion

Elrond (EGLD) – Elrond is a Secure Proof of Stake (SPoS) blockchain that strives for interconnectivity and security. Its solution for smart contracts is an EVM compliant engine to ensure interoperability by design.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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