Bitcoin Breakout | Binance Sheds Products

BITCOIN GETS BACK TO $40,000

Gone are the quiet days of low volatility. Amid the weekend’s $883 million short squeeze and reports of Amazon preparing to accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment, the market surged early Monday, with bitcoin rising above $40,000 for the first time since mid-June. Though Amazon later denied the swirling rumors, the cryptocurrency has largely sustained the rally. According to Philip Gradwell, chief economist of blockchain analytics and intelligence firm Chainalysis, “The current bitcoin market is at least in a sideways state and unlikely to enter an extreme price fall phase, with a price floor at $37,000.”

BINANCE RESTRUCTURES

As scrutiny mounts, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, is preparing to wind down futures and derivatives products across Europe, starting with Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, according to the company’s statement issued on Friday. With immediate effect, users from these countries will not be able to open new accounts for these products, while existing accounts will have to be closed by a to-be-determined date. Earlier this week, Binance announced plans to suspend crypto margin trading involving sterling, the euro and Australian dollar. The exchange is also in the process of limiting the leverage on its platform from 100x to 20x.

These decisions come as regulators in the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Italy, among others, issue warnings about the exchange’s legal status in their respective countries. Earlier this month, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission filed a criminal complaint against Binance for operating a digital asset business without a license. Meanwhile Binance.US led by Brian Brooks, former head of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), is taking concerted steps to stake independence from its embattled namesake.

$HOOD’s LACKLUSTER DEBUT

In a widely anticipated public market debut, Robinhood, the retail brokerage, which popularized commission-free stock and crypto trading, listed on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol HOOD on Thursday. Investors, however, have not shown much affection: Robinhood shares fell more than 8% on their first day of trading, valuing the company at $29 billion. Despite the grim debut, its young founders, Vlad Tenev, 34, and Baiju Bhatt, 36, are now worth $2 billion and $3 billion, respectively.

BLOCKCHAIN 50 SPOTLIGHT: BHP

The mining giant is using blockchain to digitize multiple operations, including tracking ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) attributes and verifying suppliers’ identities. BHP completed its first iron ore blockchain trade with China Baowu Steel in June 2020.

ELSEWHERE

Goldman Sachs Files for DeFi ETF Tied to Public Companies  [Decrypt]

BlockFi Gets More Time From NJ Regulators Before New Interest Accounts Are Banned [CoinDesk]

Bitcoin, Ethereum Hash Rates Start Recovering As Chinese Miners Redeploy Overseas [The Block]

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