SEC approves fourth Bitcoin Futures ETF
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved its fourth Bitcoin Futures Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). The SEC approved Teucrium Bitcoin Futures Fund, managed by Vermont-based Teucrium Trading. Teucrium is the fourth Bitcoin Futures fund to be approved, following Proshares (BITO), Valkyrie (BTF), and VanEck (XBTF) funds that all began trading late last year.
Crypto prices today: Bitcoin up 0.3%, ETH rises 1.5%
Bitcoin is currently trading at $43,589, a 0.38% increase over the previous day. Ethereum is up 1.5% over the last 24 hours to $3,263.8. Solana rose 4.4% to $119.67, while Cardano is trading higher by 1.53% at $1.09. Avalanche (AVAX) rose 4.96% to $88.5. The global crypto market cap stands at $2.02 trillion, a 1.07% increase over the previous day.
Coinbase clarifies on UPI after NPCI statement
US-based crypto exchange Coinbase said it is committed to working with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which operates the widely adopted Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The statement comes a day after Coinbase announced that it had commenced retail crypto trading in India. The company said it would allow users to purchase crypto via UPI.
However, NPCI issued a clarification saying that it is not aware of any crypto exchange using UPI. As per reports, NPCI’s stance is that UPI does not support crypto purchases.
Bolt pays $1.5B to acquire crypto startup Wyre
Online payment provider Bolt has acquired crypto service provider Wyre to provide one-click crypto payments. As per reports, the consideration paid for the acquisition is $1.5 billion (~Rs 11,380 crore). The Wall Street Journal claimed that this deal is the largest crypto acquisition to date. The tie-up has the potential to make crypto-based web payments more common.
Robinhood to use Lightning Network for Bitcoin transactions
Stock and crypto trading app Robinhood is planning to add the Bitcoin Lightning Network to its platform for faster BTC transactions. Lightning is a layer-2 network built on top of Bitcoin that allows faster, low-fee transactions. Eligible users from Robinhood’s beta crypto waitlist can now send and receive crypto through its crypto wallet feature.