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Wished I'd have taken a chance back then. ...
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The Bearing, ever interested in improving his education (as long as he doesn't have to work too hard) is now learning about Bitcoin ("BTC"). Mostly how it works (that is, how to buy them and how to spend them).
A decent guy (a "virtual friend") gave me 0.11 BTC within the past couple of days. He also pointed the way to my downloading Multibit 0.5.14, which allowed me to make a BTC wallet, see just below (all the ones I have seen so far start with a "1"). I also had to download Oracle's Java software, but hey my computer skills are fairly limited, and so far everything has worked OK. ...
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The FIRST one here at pmbug.com to email me their Bitcoin wallet address will win the 0.005 BTC (now worth about $1.50).
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The BlackRock iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) gobbled up over $778 million worth of bitcoin (BTC) on Tuesday as the fund's investors apparently bought the dip in the world's largest crypto.
IBIT added 12,600 bitcoin, breaking previous daily highs of around 10,000. Data from Nasdaq show that the fund recorded trading volumes of more than 107 million shares, or over $3.6 billion price-weighted, surpassing the previous record high of $3.3 billion from last week.
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The BlackRock ETF now holds more than 183,000 bitcoin, closing in on MicroStrategy's (MSTR) 193,000 stack.
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[The digital asset known as maga (TRUMP) has experienced significant appreciation, while a newer cryptocurrency, jeo (BODEN), has seen its value skyrocket by 1,597%, as per data from coinmarketcap.com. In the last 24 hours alone, BODEN has witnessed trading volume amounting to $34.50 million on decentralized exchange platforms such as Raydium and Orca.
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Bill Text: AZ SCR1016 said:Whereas, the landscape of financial investments is rapidly evolving with the advent of digital assets like Bitcoin, which has a market cap of approximately one trillion dollars; and
Whereas, digital assets such as Bitcoin gained significant interest in the realm of exchange traded funds (ETFs); and
Whereas, there are large retirement funds that have dedicated significant seed funding for a proposed spot Bitcoin ETF, signaling growing institutional interest in such investment vehicles; and
Whereas, the global assets under management for firms that have filed for a Bitcoin ETF are over 16 trillion dollars; and
Whereas, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved eleven spot Bitcoin ETFs as of January 10, 2024 and the Bitcoin ETFs began trading on January 11, 2024; and
Whereas, pension funds traditionally have exposure to a diverse number of sectors of the economy, including commodities such as gold and silver, which are traditionally invested in via ETFs; and
Whereas, the federal government holds approximately 200,000 Bitcoin; and
Whereas, Arizona's state retirement systems have an obligation to meet the best interests of their members; and
Whereas, the role of Bitcoin and other digital assets in the modern financial ecosystem continues to grow, particularly in the context of ETFs; and
Whereas, it is important that the Arizona State Retirement System and the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System work with the State Treasurer's office to evaluate the potential risks and benefits of investing in Bitcoin and digital asset ETFs, given the evolving regulatory landscape and growing market capitalization.
Therefore
Be it resolved by the Senate of the State of Arizona, the House of Representatives concurring:
����� That the Members of the Legislature encourage the Arizona State Retirement System and the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System to:
1. Closely monitor the developments in Bitcoin ETFs and other digital asset ETFs and consider the implications of including such assets in their investment portfolios after, to the extent possible, consulting with any firms that have been granted SEC approval to offer a digital asset ETF.
2. Consider the implications of including a digital asset ETF in their investment portfolios.
3. Submit a comprehensive report on the feasibility, risk and potential benefits of directing a portion of state retirement system monies into digital asset ETFs, including a list of options and recommendations for how this state might safely invest in the digital asset class, to the State Treasurer's office, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives at least three months before the beginning of the fifty-seventh legislature, first regular session.
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According to the fund's latest disclosure, IBIT held 195,985 bitcoin on Friday after another day of significant inflows. ...
I'm glad I was able to buy a bit more when it dipped back to 63k recently.
VanEck will temporarily cut the management fee to zero for its spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), HODL, as its assets are well below some of its competitors.
The asset manager said it will drop the fee until March 31, 2025, unless the fund reaches $1.5 billion in assets before that date, VanEck noted in a post on social media platform X.
HODL previously charged investors a fee of 0.2%, which was already one of the lowest among the competitors. For example, BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco, WisdomTree, and Valkyrie charge 0.25%. Only Franklin Templeton charges a lower fee of 0.19%.
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MetaMask, the popular cryptocurrency wallet for the Ethereum blockchain, is testing an entirely on-chain, Mastercard-branded payment card, according to promotional materials and a testing platform seen by CoinDesk.
Such a product would unite two giants of their respective fields. MetaMask is the biggest self-custody wallet with more than 30 million monthly active users, while Mastercard provides key plumbing in the conventional financial system through its credit- and debit-card network spanning the globe.
The MetaMask/Mastercard payment card would be "the first ever truly decentralized web3 payment solution," allowing users to spend their crypto "on everyday purchases, everywhere cards are accepted," according to the marketing materials.
Mastercard and its rival Visa have been quietly courting public blockchain developer communities and self-custody wallet providers of late. Mastercard has been working with hardware wallet firm Ledger as well as MetaMask, CoinDesk reported in October of last year.
Visa, meanwhile, has been working with the USDC stablecoin and the Solana blockchain on cross-border payments and smoothing out wrinkles like paying Ethereum gas fees.
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Bernstein analysts said on Monday that they were now more convinced about bitcoin (BTC) hitting $150,000 by mid-2025 after the largest digital asset rallied to reach a new all-time high this year.
The analysts also predicted that bitcoin will ‘break out’ after the next halving event ...
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Zero cost trading?
Asset manager VanEck's spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) saw record daily inflows on Monday after cutting management fees to 0% for a year to make it more attractive.
The VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL) attracted $119 million in fresh funds during the day, adding over 1,600 bitcoin, the most by a wide margin since its launch in January, data compiled by BitMEX Research shows.
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BlackRock has opened a new filing with the SEC to purchase more Bitcoin ETFs, according to new filing records by the commission. BlackRock intends to use the new Bitcoin ETFs for its Global Allocation Fund.
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The latest filing reads: “The Fund may acquire shares in exchange-traded products (“ETPs”) that seek to reflect generally the performance of the price of bitcoin by directly holding bitcoin (“Bitcoin ETPs”), including shares of a Bitcoin ETP sponsored by an affiliate of BlackRock.” It adds, “The Fund will only invest in Bitcoin ETPs that are listed and traded on national securities exchanges.”
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At the beginning of the week, BlackRock also applied with the SEC to purchase more Bitcoin ETFs for its Strategic Income Opportunities Fund. ...
The SEC has yet to accept BlackRock’s initial request for more ETFs for its SIO Fund. It is up to the commission to approve the latest request for more ETFs.
... Size of Fund (Millions) $17,685.6 M ...
... Size of Fund (Millions) $36,435.6 M ...
It invests in companies related to crypto payment platforms:
FDIG | Portfolio Exposure
research2.fidelity.com