Welcome to BeInCrypto’s weekly news roundup for March 29 – April 2, where we cover all the interesting news that happened in crypto from Monday to Friday.
This week’s most popular stories all had to do with significant developments in the institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies. First of all, several institutional investment firms have filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offer Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These firms include Cboe Global Fund, Goldman Sachs, and Fidelity Investments.
Next, crypto payments are being facilitated with the announcement of their adoption by PayPal and Visa. Finally, Coinbase announced that its registration statement with the SEC had been declared effective, paving the way for a direct listing later this month.
Bitcoin ETFs
Early last month, Cboe Global Fund filed a proposal with the SEC to list and trade shares of the VanEck Bitcoin Trust. This would be the fund’s second attempt at doing so, after previously trying in 2019
This has been followed-up more recently by Goldman Sachs and Fidelity Investments last week. On March 19, the investment bank applied with the SEC to offer a BTC ETF. The investment company followed suit a few days later, on March 24.
Analysts from JP Morgan noted that BTC’s volatility had dropped recently. BTC’s three-month realized bitcoin volatility dropped to 86% in March, while the six-month metric leveled off at around 73%.
BTC’s volatility has been a sticking point for BTC skeptics. JP Morgan strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said:
“In our opinion, a potential normalization of bitcoin volatility from here would likely help to reinvigorate the institutional interest going forward.”
Crypto Payments
Meanwhile, the ability to make payments with cryptocurrency has made strides this past week. On March 30, PayPal announced that it would allow customers in the United States to use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay at online stores across the world. The mechanism, ‘Checkout with Crypto,’ enables users to pay with bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC).
The day before, Visa announced it would allow using USD Coin (USDC) to settle transactions on its payment network. The company said it is initially launching a pilot program with payment and crypto platform Crypto.com. However, it plans to add more partners later this year. Earlier this year, Visa CEO Al Kelly suggested the company could begin adding cryptocurrencies to its payments network.
Coinbase Listing
Finally, this week Coinbase announced the latest development in its efforts to go public. On April 1, the SEC declared Coinbase’s S-1 registration statement to be effective. With this development, the crypto exchange expects the direct listing of its shares on April 14. Its class A common stock will trade on the Nasdaq, under the ticker symbol COIN. If the listing proves successful, it will likely set a precedent that many other crypto firms will follow.
Tune in next Friday for BeInCrypto’s latest weekly roundup!
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