Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Ever since Tesla announced the company held $1.5 billion in bitcoin on its balance sheet during the first week of February, the company’s stocks have dropped over 30%. One analyst says that Tesla’s shareholders would be “very supportive” if the company announced it would sell the bitcoin. Additionally, the shares of Microstrategy’s firm have also dropped considerably during the last 30 days, after multiple bitcoin treasury purchase announcements. Critics Say Tesla Should Sell Bitcoin After Tesla announced to the world that there was $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin ( BTC ) on its balance sheet, the price of BTC shot up considerably that day. However, 30 days after the fact, it seems shareholders of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are not so hip to the idea. Furthermore, on social media and forums, critics and even lawyers, have called out companies like Tesla for making such decisions. Tesla shares have not fared so well since the purchase, even though the firm did profit nicely from BTC val...

The chairman of investment firm Sanders Morris Harris, George Ball, says cryptocurrencies are an effective hedge against currency debasement. In addition, he says that cryptocurrencies are attractive as a small part of portfolios. George Ball Advocates for Crypto as Hedge Against Currency Debasement George Ball talked about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in an interview with Yahoo Finance last week. He described two main reasons why cryptocurrencies are now ideal targets for investment by wealthy individuals and institutional investors. Ball is currently the chairman of investment firm Sanders Morris Harris, a dually registered broker dealer and RIA firm established in 1987. Its parent company, Tectonic Financial, has approximately $4 billion in client assets under management. He was a former CEO of Bache & Co. (later Prudential Securities), which had been purchased by Prudential Insurance Company of America where he served as a member of the Executive Office. He argued th...

On Sunday, March 7, 2021, the price per bitcoin jumped over the $50k handle once again, as the digital asset’s overall market capitalization is around $925 billion. One thing is for certain, there will never be more than 21 million bitcoin and today there’s roughly 18,647,525 bitcoin in circulation. Interestingly, anyone who owns 21 bitcoin or one-millionth of the entire supply is currently a millionaire today. The ’21 Million Bitcoin Club’ Back in 2017, finance publications reported on a number of crypto proponents “ gunning ” for exclusive membership into the ’21 million club.’ The 21 million club refers to the number of bitcoins that will ever be produced and by the year 2140, that number will be 21 million BTC . During the last few years, many enthusiasts have tried to join the 21 million club by obtaining a single bitcoin, which is exchanging hands for a touch over $50k on Sunday morning. For years now people can find a myriad of forum posts about people who have finally made...

After Elizabeth Warren, the U.S. Senator for Massachusetts called bitcoin a speculative asset, Ro Khanna, the U.S. House Representative for California has spoken in favor of the crypto asset. In his Twitter statement, Khanna says “bitcoin just like digital gold cannot be devalued.” Khanna also lauds the crypto asset’s decentralization, an attribute which he says “promotes transnational exchange whilst providing a check against economic mismanagement.” Awareness of the Concerns In her recent comments about the crypto asset, Warren said she agreed with the U.S. Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen’s contention that BTC is a speculative asset. Further, in a bit of apparent advice to cryptocurrency investors, Warren warns this is “going to end badly.” For her part, Yellen says BTC is extremely inefficient due to the crypto asset’s perceived disproportionate energy use. Meanwhile, in his tweet, Khanna appears to be cognizant of the concerns that are often peddled by opponents o...

The premium on Grayscale Investment’s GBTC, which turned negative for the first time on February 23, is continuing its downward slide. As the latest Glassnode data shows, the GBTC was trading at a record low discount of -11.92% on March 4, 2021. According to the same data, this new low is a significant reversal from the December 21 premium of nearly 40%. The Competition This growth in the discount on GBTC comes as Grayscale Investments gradually shifts focus to altcoins. As reported by news.Bitcoin.com, Grayscale added 174,000 litecoins or almost 80% of the newly minted LTC in February of 2021. Similarly, the investment company also added 243,000 ETH to its ethereum holdings during the same period. However, it is the discount on the GBTC that has sparked debate about what it might mean for holders of the investment product. Some have pointed to the launch of Purpose Bitcoin ETF as the primary reason for widening discount on the GBTC. After its launch on February 18, the ETF had...