Weekly Update: 6th of November
What happened between the 30th of October and the 6th of November?
- The digital assets market reacts positively to Donald Trump winning the US presidential election, causing widespread upward price momentum. Read more
- In addition to its Bitcoin ETF investment, the Michigan pension fund has added Ethereum ETFs. Read more
- A collaboration of broker Robinhood, digital assets exchange Kraken, and stablecoin issuer Paxos launched a Global Dollar stablecoin network to support Paxos’ USDG stablecoin. Read more
Welcome back President Donald Trump
Donald Trump has officially won the U.S. presidential election, defeating Kamala Harris by surpassing the required 270 electoral college votes. As Trump gained the lead, the digital assets market saw significant momentum, with Bitcoin up over 7% and various altcoins rising by more than 10%. This surge isn’t coincidental, as Trump has recently emerged as a strong advocate for digital assets. Adding fuel to the fire, the Republican Party has secured a Senate majority and is also leading in the House of Representatives race, potentially achieving a Republican clean sweep. Many market participants expect the Republican Party to embrace digital assets more favorably than the Biden administration and the Democratic Party.
With Trump winning the election, we expect the market to close the year strongly due to his supportive stance toward the industry. Additionally, we anticipate a less hostile regulatory environment in the coming years, especially with the likely departure of the current Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair, Gary Gensler, whom Trump has deemed unfit for the role. Speculation is already circulating that Hester Peirce, often referred to as the 'crypto mom,' might replace Gensler as Chair. In any case, nearly any successor would likely be an improvement, given Gensler’s apparent disregard for the industry.
Michigan pension fund adds Ether ETF to its balance sheet
In a November 4 SEC filing, Michigan’s state pension fund reported holding 460,000 shares of the Grayscale Ethereum Trust and 460,000 shares of the asset manager’s Ethereum Mini Trust. This isn’t the fund's first foray into digital assets; earlier this year, it added 110,000 shares of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, worth approximately $7.4 million, which has already yielded a $1 million gain. With the addition of Ethereum ETFs, the state pension fund now holds approximately $18 million in digital assets. Although this represents a relatively small portion of its portfolio, it’s encouraging to see institutions recognizing the potential of digital assets. Similarly, the first U.K.-based pension fund invested in Bitcoin earlier this year, although as a direct investment. We expect more institutions to gradually add digital assets to their balance sheets, with most doing so through traditional channels
Global Dollar stablecoin network in the make
On November 5, stablecoin issuer Paxos announced the launch of a Global Dollar Network in partnership with Robinhood, Kraken, and Galaxy Digital. The network aims to accelerate the adoption and use of stablecoins, as Paxos stated that “the lack of competition in the regulated stablecoin market has prevented the industry from reaching its full potential.” The network is designed to support Paxos' USDG stablecoin, which launched on November 1. Currently, USDG is available only on Ethereum, with plans to expand to other chains if regulatory conditions allow.
In other digital assets news
- Canary Capital becomes the third asset manager to file for a spot Solana ETF with the SEC.
- Business software firm MicroStrategy to raise $42B to buy Bitcoin in addition to its current 252,000 Bitcoin holdings.
- US asset manager Franklin Templeton launches tokenized money fund on Base, earlier network expansions include Polygon, Avalanche, and Arbitrum.
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