weekly roundup – Big Industry Reports

With the halving dominating the crypto conversation over the past few months, culminating in the actual event last week, along with the massive Consensus: Distributed online event, we’re seeing bitcoin up a staggering 38% year-to-date, still outperforming even gold. On Sunday bitcoin rose for the sixth day in seven to $9,891, just shy of the psychological threshold of $10,000.

Blockchain.com noted in a monthly outlook published on 8 May that bitcoin’s halving provided an opportunity to mark how much the digital-asset industry had grown over the past four years.

Some fascinating reports hit the space last week, we’ve included some of the key takeaways from these in our weekly roundup.

PwC Releases Crypto Hedge Fund Report

The annual report, compiled in collaboration with fund manager Elwood, revealed some interesting trends which include:
A quantitative strategy is the most common by far, accounting for almost 50% of the crypto fund universe.
Almost 90% of crypto fund investors are either family offices or high-net worth individuals.
The total AUM more than doubled over 2019, in spite of the bear market.
The percentage of funds with more than $20 million AUM doubled over 2019.
Bitcoin-only funds easily outperformed all other types in 2019.
Approximately 40% of crypto funds are also involved in staking, lending or both, which indicates a deepening familiarity with sector developments.
56% actively use derivatives.
Over 80% use an independent custodian, vs just over 50% in 2018.
Over 40% are domiciled in the Cayman Islands, which, as well as a favourable tax regime, also gives them a wide range of exchanges from which to choose.

The Block Research Reports

Check out The Block’s State of the Digital Asset Data research report, a +25 page report that examining the growth of the digital asset data and infrastructure sector.

The Block Research also published an ecosystem market map of the institutional market infrastructure for digital assets – the first piece in a series of complementary instalments that helps define and analyse the landscape of infrastructure companies supporting institutions in the digital assets space today.

Edelman Trust Barometer 2020 – Special Report: Trust in Cryptocurrency

Last week, PR firm Edelman published a special edition of its famed Trust Barometer report, focused on cryptocurrency.
All in all, the report indicates a notable increase in global understanding and support of cryptocurrencies. Of the 28 markets surveyed, only three had lower trust in cryptoassets than last year, and the declines were negligible.

Delphi Digital: The State of Bitcoin

Crypto research team Delphi Digital have published a comprehensive report on bitcoin, covering network metrics, market performance, software upgrades and underlying narratives. The sections on wallet balances and emerging markets are particularly interesting. According the report, so far this year, the number of small holders (less than 1 BTC) has gone up over 6%, indicating a growth in retail interest. The number of large holders (more than 10,000 BTC) has declined by 2%, which indicates either profit taking, or traders exiting, spooked by the volatility.
Here’s the podcast version with Yan Lieberman of Delphi Digital.

Anthony Scaramucci: Paul Tudor Jones Took “A Sledgehammer” to the Wall between Wall Street and Bitcoin

On this recent episode of The Scoop, Skybridge Capital’s Anthony Scaramucci explores recent developments indicating Wall Street’s slow embrace of bitcoin is beginning to pick up the pace, such as JP Morgan’s offering banking services to cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Gemini, macro investor Paul Tudor Jones’ recent revelations that he allocated as much as 2% of his assets to bitcoin, and open interest on CME Group’s bitcoin option contract hitting fresh highs on Thursday.

“Paul is closed for new investors, but if he wasn’t closed for new investors, I would be in his fund,” Scaramucci says. “And I have no problem owning, as a pass-through through his fund, some level of digital currency exposure.”

Scaramucci said that a few more announcements like Paul Tudor Jones’ revelation that he will take on exposure to bitcoin will cause the “wall to fall down.”

Consensus: Distributed – Panel with Brad Keoun, CoinDesk

Last week our CEO joined the First Mover panel with Coindesk’s Brad Keoun and Daniel Cawrey to discuss the latest sentiment around crypto markets and mining.

Blockchain – The Future of Finance Panel

We recently joined the ‘Blockchain – The Future of Finance’ online panel at TechCity, along with Aman Kohli, CTO Banking & Capital Markets DXC Technology. and Richard Crook, Founder and Director at LAB577. The panel was moderated by Monty Munford.
Catch the full recording here

The session aimed to cover three main questions:
1. Are digital assets only fit for certain market cycles?
2. Have blockchain and digital assets come of age – when do we get industry traction at scale?
3. Privacy vs Anonymity vs Transparency – what is their role in the digitisation of capital markets?