weekly roundup – US Senate Hearing | Stablecoins | Bitcoin ETP

It was interesting to see last week’s big news around the market capitalisation of USDC accelerating past the $1 billion mark. And we gained some understanding into US senators’ views on the digital dollar at the virtual hearing which took place last Tuesday.

Here’s our weekly roundup of the industry news and big reads.

Market Capitalisation of USD Coin (USDC) Surpasses $1 Billion after Token Supply Surge in June

The total supply of stablecoin USDC surpassed 1 billion on 1st July, network data shows.

The stablecoin, issued by the CENTRE consortium backed by Coinbase and Circle, experienced a supply surge in June when its total jumped 37% from 730,920,001 to 1,002,228,740. The number also represents a 93% increase from the beginning of the year.

Meanwhile, the adjusted transaction volume for stablecoins hit a new all-time high in June. June transaction volume cleared $54 billion, up 14% since May, and marking the fourth month in a row that the figure was above $40 billion.

NYDIG’s $190m Bitcoin Fund Makes it one of the Biggest Crypto Players

The New York Digital Investments Group (NYDIG) has become one of the largest institutional investors in Bitcoin after raising $190 million for one of its Bitcoin funds. This is according to a Form D document submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday.

Over the past three years, NYDIG has dabbled in various Bitcoin-based funds. One of its first, founded in 2018, was a pooled investment fund dubbed the “Institutional Digital Asset Fund.” While the fund didn’t initially disclose its constituent assets, it managed to raise a notable $31 million.

New Bitcoin Whales – Where are they Coming From?

Crypto data firm Glassnode has produced a detailed look at the recent activity of bitcoin whales. They uncover that after declining since 2016, the number of BTC whales is increasing, as is the total balance held. What’s more, the market share of these whales is seeing its largest sustained increase since 2011, after declining for almost a decade. This growth implies growing confidence of long-term holders, supported by the apparent flow of BTC from exchanges into whale wallets.

21Shares Bitcoin ETP Launches on Deutsche Börse

A bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) managed by 21Shares, the Swiss-based product provider formerly known as Amun, has listed on Xetra, Deutsche Börse’s electronic trading venue. As with ETC Group’s bitcoin ETP last month, this will boost mainstream access to crypto investment. Xetra is one of the largest electronic trading platforms in Europe, and has a much more international reach than SIX Swiss Exchange and Börse Stuttgart, the other exchanges on which 21Shares has listed crypto products.

Former US Treasury Secretary Praises Stablecoins

During a special episode of Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire’s podcast, “The Money Movement” recently, Summers said he foresees more innovation in the blockchain space but a global digital currency is still at a nascent stage. The comments came as part of a broader discussion on the current state of the global economy, the future of a global digital currency and the role of stablecoins in cross-border transactions.

US Senators Explore what a Digital Dollar would look like in Practice

U.S. senators posed questions to a panel of witnesses on the topics of stablecoins and a digitised dollar during a virtual hearing on Tuesday.

In general, the senators appeared to be interested in understanding the mechanics of how a digital currency platform would end up replacing the existing banking system. At the same time, there was a degree of skepticism as to whether tech companies would be able to execute the vision they were advocating given Senator Brown’s claims that, historically, big tech companies hadn’t been able to deliver on their more ambitious promises.

On the other hand, the witnesses seemed more focused on voicing the inevitability of the digital currency disruption that, in their view, was bound to happen to the existing banking system.

Podcast: The Craziest Bitcoin Trend of all Time

Dan Matuszewski unpacks current market trends, defi, BTC v ETH, BNB, Grayscale and finally what he considers to be the crazy trend in bitcoin history – bitcoin stocks.