Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Crypto exchange Valr has announced it has closed its crypto arbitrage service to new customers in order to comply with the requirements of its banking partner. This announcement makes Valr the latest South African crypto exchange platform to close its arbitrage business. Ovex was one of the first exchanges to announce its exit from the market. Banking Partner Requirements Push Exchange out of Arbitrage Market The South African cryptocurrency exchange, Valr, will be exiting the crypto arbitrage market on February 28 in order to comply with its banking partner’s requirements, a report has said. The exchange also revealed it stopped offering crypto arbitrage to new customers on January 31. With this announcement, Valr becomes the latest South African cryptocurrency exchange to exit the crypto arbitrage market in 2022. Ovex became one of the first exchanges to state it would be exiting the crypto arbitrage business after it issued a statement informing its clients of the decommissioni

PRESS RELEASE. ADALend and Robatz Network sign the contract for development of the decentralized lending protocol. Robatz Network and ADALend represents a significant milestone for developing the lending protocol and will allow both companies to work together to further the development of the protocol, which will ultimately increase the utility of the platform for users. ADALend is a scalable, trustless, and decentralized lending protocol built on the Cardano blockchain. The partnership will allow developers to perform further research to analyze the aggregate protocol environment, including liquidity, swap, UI, and UX. Robatz Network will also be involved in the design and deployment of the platform, with an expected date to commence development of the protocol architecture around the 1st of April 2022. Robatz Network plans to improve the user experience on the ADALend platform, allowing users to conduct self-governed lending transactions with greater ease. About Robatz Network R

Grayscale Investments has launched its first exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Grayscale Future of Finance ETF “seeks to invest in the companies and technologies shaping the ‘future of finance.'” Grayscale’s First ETF Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital currency asset manager, announced Wednesday the launch of its first exchange-traded fund (ETF) called Grayscale Future of Finance ETF (symbol: GFOF). The company explained that its new ETF “seeks to invest in the companies and technologies shaping the ‘future of finance.'” In addition, it is “the first equity ETF to track the investment performance of the Bloomberg Grayscale Future of Finance Index.” David LaValle, global head of ETFs at Grayscale Investments, opined: Through GFOF, investors now have the opportunity to receive exposure to the companies that are pivotal to the evolution of the global financial system. 22 Holdings but No Microstrategy The fund has 22 holdings as of Feb. 2. The top holdings a

The Nasdaq-listed company Microstrategy sees “evidence of a lot more institutional adoption” of bitcoin. The firm cited various reasons including “The circumstances and the currency volatility” in Turkey, South America, and Africa — “all of these things have elevated institutional awareness of bitcoin.” Microstrategy Outlines Future Outlook for Bitcoin The Nasdaq-listed software company Microstrategy discussed the future outlook for bitcoin during the company’s Q1 earnings call Wednesday. “With regard to the outlook for bitcoin, I think that in the past 12 months, the asset class has evolved and matured,” Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor explained, elaborating: I see evidence of a lot more institutional adoption, greater adoption amongst macro and other hedge funds. “We’ve made great progress with corporations,” he continued. “There will be 24 publicly traded bitcoin miners by the end of the quarter, so lots of publicly traded companies in the Bitcoin space.” Saylor also predi

A commissioner with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has voiced concerns regarding a new proposal that could give the securities regulator new powers to regulate cryptocurrency platforms and decentralized finance (defi) protocols. New SEC Proposal Could Hurt the Crypto Industry, Commissioner Peirce Cautions U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce has warned that a recent proposal could be devastating for the crypto industry, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. Peirce is a pro-bitcoin commissioner, who is also known in the crypto community as “crypto mom.” The SEC proposed amendments to regulate “significant Treasury markets platforms” within Regulation ATS last week. The 654-page proposal seeks to “expand Regulation ATS for alternative trading systems (ATS) that trade government securities, NMS [National Market System] stock, and other securities.” It also proposes to “extend Regulation SCI to ATSs that trade government securities” and “ame