Bitcoin’s price volatility has reportedly seen investors start looking at other cryptocurrencies and is believed to have helped the second-largest crypto by market cap, ether, move past $1,3000 to eye a new all-time high.

Digital asset management firm CoinShares has announced it’s launching a bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) on the Swiss stock exchange SIX.

Iranian authorities have reportedly seized 45,000 bitcoin mining machines that were allegedly using illegally subsidized electricity from state-run energy provider Tavanir. The powerful mining machines had purportedly been consuming 95 megawatts per hour of electricity at a reduced rate.

Sponsored: Crypto.com Exchange is listing NEAR on The Syndicate, where all Crypto.com Coin (CRO) stakers will be able to participate in a discounted sale event for 250,000 USD worth of NEAR at 50% off.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Bitcoin’s Volatility Helps Ether Close in on New All-Time High
• CoinShares to Launch Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Product on SIX Swiss Exchange
• Iran Seizes 45,000 Bitcoin Mining Machines After Closing Illegal Operations
• Sponsored: Crypto.com Exchange is listing NEAR at 50% OFF

Bitcoin’s Volatility Helps Ether Close in on New All-Time High

Bitcoin’s price volatility has reportedly seen investors start looking at other cryptocurrencies and is believed to have helped the second-largest crypto by market cap, ether, move past $1,3000 to eye a new all-time high.

Bitcoin is trading around $36,000 after falling from a new high near $42,000 achieved after a significant bull run in December and early January. Its comparative calm has encouraged enthusiasts to chase momentum coins, according to analysts.

Vijay Ayyar, head of business development at crypto exchange Luno, was quoted as saying:

“Bitcoin has been in a range for the past few weeks, which gives time for capital to rotate [to other cryptoassets]”

Bitcoin’s use as a hedge against risks such as inflation, its growing corporate adoption, and growing interest in the market have helped the cryptocurrency’s price surge. Analysts at JPMorgan have said the $40,000 mark is key for BTC, flagging the risk of a further drop unless the crypto surpasses that mark again soon.

Ether, meanwhile, is popular for the decentralized finance projects on the Ethereum blockchain, and is growing thanks to progress being made on Ethereum 2.0.

CoinShares to Launch Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Product on SIX Swiss Exchange

Digital asset management firm CoinShares has announced it’s launching a bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) on the Swiss stock exchange SIX.

The ETP is set to go live today, January 19, and will be listed under the ticker BITC. Bitcoin ETPs allow investors to gain exposure to BTC as a regulated class, without having to buy the cryptocurrency itself or managing private keys.

The ETP’s assets will be custodied by Komainu, a venture launched a year ago involving Nomura Holdings, CoinShares, and Ledger. The BITC ETP will charge a 0.98% expense ratio and will be physically backed by bitcoin.

CoinShares, which has about $4 billion in assets under management, launched the first bitcoin investment vehicle in 2015. Each unit of the BITC ETP will be backed by 0.001 BTC.

Iran Seizes 45,000 Bitcoin Mining Machines After Closing Illegal Operations

Iranian authorities have reportedly seized 45,000 bitcoin mining machines that were allegedly using illegally subsidized electricity from state-run energy provider Tavanir. The powerful mining machines had purportedly been consuming 95 megawatts per hour of electricity at a reduced rate.

Earlier this month, Iranian authorities shut down 1,620 illegal cryptocurrency mining operations, which collectively are said to have used 250 megawatts of electricity over the past 18 months.

The country’s major cities have recently endured blackouts, which have in part been blamed on cryptocurrency mining. This drew the ire of officials, who sought a temporary stay on BTC mining.

Crypto researcher Ziya Sadr told the Washington Post that the miner “had nothing to do with the blackouts,” and claimed they made up a “very small” percentage of the country’s overall capacity.

Terra Sees 2K New Accounts Created Daily Post Mirror Launch

Flipside Crypto’s labeling of Terra’s on-chain activity reveals 2K new accounts are added to the chain daily since their launch of the Mirror protocol in early December. The new protocol gives users exposure to real-world equity assets, on-chain, without having to own them.

Terra, it’s worth noting, is a blockchain platform with a suite of stablecoins that are each pegged to different fiat currencies. The LUNA token serves as collateral for these stablecoins and powers its delegated proof of stake system.

On December 3, Terra launched their Mirror Protocol, a synthetic asset platform that allows for the tracking, issuing, and trading of real-world assets, such as equities, via Mirrored Assets (mAssets). These mAssets are tied to real-world assets and mirror their prices on-chain.

With over 2.2 million accounts and on average 2,000 new accounts added daily, the Terra stablecoins are rapidly gaining traction. On-chain data reveals an average of 63,000 active accounts per day.  

Crypto.com Exchange is listing NEAR at 50% OFF

Crypto.com Exchange is listing NEAR on The Syndicate, where all Crypto.com Coin (CRO) stakers will be able to participate in a discounted sale event for 250,000 USD worth of NEAR at 50% off. The event commenced on Tuesday, 19 January 6:00am UTC on the Crypto.com Exchange.

Allocation:

Each participant’s maximum amount of CRO that can be applied towards the listing event will depend on the amount of CRO staked on the Crypto.com Exchange. 

Subscription: 

• Participants will be able to subscribe for NEAR by contributing an amount of CRO tokens not exceeding their respective maximum allocation. Staked CRO tokens may not be used to subscribe for NEAR in this event.
• Participants will need to trade the minimum volume required at their CRO staked level in the past 30 days in order to be eligible to subscribe.
• The past 30-day trading volume is calculated daily at 00:50:00 UTC. For more information regarding exact cutoff times, refer to our FAQ here.

NOTE: The trading volume can take up to 1 hour to calculate at most. To avoid any delays, we advise you to satisfy the trading requirement well in advance of the subscription timelines.

Event Timeline:

• 19 Jan 6:00am UTC: Sales Begins (NEAR/CRO subscription price fixed)
• 20 Jan 6:00am UTC: Sales Ends 
• 27 Jan 6:00am UTC: Acceptance Period Begins (unused CRO will be refunded immediately if you reject the allocation)
• 28 Jan 6:00am UTC: Acceptance Period Ends (CRO refunds will be distributed for forfeited participants)

Sign up for the Crypto.com Exchange, stake CRO and participate in the NEAR sale!

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