Your Weekly 3-Minute Roundup

November 22, 2024

BITCOIN REACHES ALL-TIME HIGH, APPROACHING $100K

This week, the post-US election crypto rally continued, with Bitcoin reaching all-time highs (ATH) and soaring past $99,000 this Friday.

President-elect Donald Trump is seen as pro-crypto and has spoken of running a crypto-friendly administration. Pledging to make the U.S. "the crypto capital of the planet", while also speaking about creating a "strategic reserve" of Bitcoin.

Along with the post-election rush, the success of Spot Bitcoin ETFs has driven much of the recent momentum, with record inflows since they launched this year and continuing post- U.S. election.

This week also saw another landmark with Blackrock's IShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) being the first Bitcoin ETF approved for options trading on Nasdaq. According to James Seyffart, Bloomberg ETF Analyst, trading reached nearly $1.9 billion in notional exposure at launch.

GENSLER RESIGNS AS SEC CHAIR

Current Securities and Exchange Commission Chair, Gary Gensler announced on Thursday that he will resign on January 20, 2025. His resignation opens the way for President-elect Trump to appoint Gensler's replacement.

His announcement was welcomed with cheers from the crypto industry, who have seen his approach of 'regulation by enforcement' as holding back the progress of the crypto industry in the U.S. since taking over the SEC in 2021.

Gensler's SEC has had a number of legal disputes with the crypto industry, including the SEC's efforts to block Grayscale from launching Bitcoin ETFs, a case which Grayscale won. The SEC has sued multiple crypto related companies in recent years over their offering and selling of crypto. It is expected that President-elect Trump will appoint a more crypto-friendly replacement to Gensler, with a few names already being mentioned by industry players.

CHARLES SCHWAB PREPARES TO OFFER SPOT CRYPTO TRADING

Rick Wurster, President of Charles Schwab and incoming Schwab CEO said in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday that Schwab will get into spot crypto when the regulatory environment changes, and Schwab is getting ready for that to change eventually.

Posts have been shared over X of Wurster's interview, where he commented, "I have not bought crypto, and now I feel silly." A refreshing show of honesty, which has mainly been received positively.

Wurster also said in his interview, "I've talked to a lot of our investors who tell me I'm completely missing the boat and tell me all the great things about crypto, and you know what? They've been right, not me, because it keeps going up,"

Schwab already offers crypto ETFs and crypto Futures, but Wurster says that Schwab plans to move towards spot trading, a space where firms like Fidelity and Robinhood are already present.

UK PROMISES CRYPTO REGULATORY FRAMEWORK BY EARLY 2025

As reported this week by Bloomberg, the new UK government has announced plans to draft a regulatory framework to oversee the crypto sector early next year.

Bloomberg reported that rules on stablecoins — cryptocurrencies tied to the value of more stable assets like the US dollar — and on so-called staking services will be part of a single overarching regime for crypto assets, Economic Secretary to the Treasury Tulip Siddiq said at a conference in London on Thursday.

Under the new government’s plans, stablecoins would no longer be considered under the UK’s existing payments services regulation because that would not appropriate based on their “current use cases,” she said.

Legislation was previously proposed by the UK's Conservative government but stalled due to the summer general election.

Now the UK must pick up the pace to remain attractive to business, particularly with the fresh momentum seen in the U.S. following Trump's election win.

---