The Daily: Ethereum ETFs' first week, Lummis announces bill for US Treasury to buy 1 million BTC, and much more

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The Block2024/07/29 18:31

By:James Hunt

Sen. Cynthia Lummis announces bill for US Treasury to buy 1 million bitcoin worth $68 billionHong Kong lawmaker advocates for including bitcoin in reserves following Trump’s speechThe spot Ethereum ETFs’ first week by the numbersThe following is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

I hope you had a good weekend, folks.

In today's Daily, Sen. Lummis announces a bill for the U.S. Treasury to buy 1 million BTC, a Hong Kong lawmaker follows Donald Trump in advocating for a bitcoin strategic reserve, we take a look at the Ethereum ETFs' first week and more.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk said he sees merit in Bitcoin following Donald Trump's speech at Bitcoin 2024.

Let's get started.

1 million bitcoin

Senator Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., announced a bill at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville over the weekend that could see the U.S. government purchase 1 million bitcoin as a strategic reserve.

Lummis followed former President Donald Trump on stage, who made several crypto promises if elected, including establishing a national strategic bitcoin stockpile if elected.
The proposed bill, set to be introduced this week, aims to counter dollar debasement by acquiring bitcoin worth about $68 billion (at current prices) over five years.
"Bitcoin is a great store of value. Over the last four years or so, it has increased about 55% per year. During the same period, the U.S. dollar has declined in value and we've seen increasing inflation," Sen. Lummis told The Block in an interview ahead of her speech.
"So it would be of value, in my opinion, to have a hard asset that backs the U.S. dollar and that grows in value instead of declines in value," the Senator said.
The legislation would require the U.S. Treasury to self-custody bitcoin across "a variety of geographic locations" for at least 20 years. According to Lummis, they can only be sold to "reduce the debt."
The U.S. Treasury should also take custody of the estimated 213,246 BTC the U.S. Department of Justice and other agencies possess, largely accumulated through criminal seizures, Lummis added.
The bill is unlikely to pass this year but is intended for review, with serious consideration expected after the upcoming elections.

Hong Kong lawmaker advocates for including bitcoin in reserves following Trump's speech

Hong Kong lawmaker Johnny Ng plans to discuss including bitcoin in the region's financial reserves with various stakeholders following Trump's speech about creating a strategic bitcoin stockpile in the U.S. on Saturday.

Ng highlighted the growing global acceptance of bitcoin and its perception as "digital gold" as reasons to consider it for Hong Kong's financial reserves.
The region's recent crypto licensing regime contrasts mainland China's crackdown on the industry, allowing licensed exchanges to offer retail trading services since June 2023.
However, fellow lawmaker Duncan Chiu has criticized the "excessively stringent" regulations, which have led to major exchanges, including OKX, Gate.io and HTX, withdrawing their license applications in Hong Kong.
Bitcoin jumped to nearly $70,000 early Monday following the weekend's news before retreating back toward $68,000.

Ethereum ETFs' first week by the numbers

The new U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs got off to a contrasting start last week since trading began on Tuesday, with over $1.17 billion of net inflows into eight of the funds overwhelmed by more than $1.5 billion in net outflows from Grayscale's converted ETHE product.

The combined net outflow for the spot Ethereum ETFs was $341.8 million last week, compared to a $1.26 billion net inflow into the spot Bitcoin ETFs during their first four days.
However, excluding ETHE, the Ethereum ETFs generated around 40% of the $2.89 billion in net inflows witnessed by the Bitcoin ETFs in the same period following their launch in January, excluding the similarly converted GBTC fund.
Trading volume for spot Ethereum ETFs was $4.05 billion in the first week, accounting for 34% of the $11.82 billion volume for Bitcoin ETFs in their initial four days post-launch.
Meanwhile, 21Shares integrated Chainlink's Proof of Reserve tool to enhance the transparency of the ether reserves backing its spot Ethereum ETF, CETH.

29-year-old Bitcoiner robbed and murdered in Kyiv for $200,000 in bitcoin

A 29-year-old Bitcoiner was kidnapped and murdered in Kyiv on Monday by four male alleged assailants who stole around $200,000 worth of bitcoin from the victim.

The National Police of Ukraine reported that the perpetrators, aged 24 to 29, carefully planned the abduction, attacking the victim as he returned home and forcibly taking him to an abandoned building.
The alleged perpetrators have been arrested and charged with premeditated murder, robbery and concealment, facing potential life sentences.
Violent attacks on cryptocurrency holders are increasingly common, with experts like Casa CTO Jameson Lopp emphasizing the importance of physical safety and privacy as part of a comprehensive security setup.

Bernstein says crypto is 'no longer a bipartisan issue'

Donald Trump outlined several crypto promises on Saturday, including establishing a national strategic bitcoin reserve if elected, while Kamala Harris appeared to extend an olive branch to the industry last week.

However, analysts at research and brokerage firm Bernstein said that crypto is " no longer a bipartisan issue ," with bitcoin, U.S. public miner stocks and MicroStrategy's shares set to benefit from a "Trump trade" if he wins the presidential election.
Decentralized predictions platform Polymarket shows the current odds of a Trump victory at 60% compared to 38% for Kamala Harris.

In the next 24 hours

Eurozone GDP data are released at 5 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

EDCON 2024 concludes in Tokyo.

Never miss a beat with The Block's daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.

Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.

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