New York Stock Exchange introduces new crypto ETF – Crypto weekly update

This week, the total market capitalization exceeded 1.11 trillion EUR. Decrease at the 7-day interval is 0.1 %. Bitcoin decreased by 2 % during the week to a current value of over than 27,300 EUR. Bitcoin dominance is 46 %.

NYSE with new ETF

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) focusing on more environmentally friendly crypto mining operations and infrastructure has been launched in the United States earlier this week. The fund will focus on environmentally friendly crypto mining infrastructure firms.

The new “Viridi Cleaner Energy Crypto-Mining and Semiconductor ETF” started trading on Tuesday, July 20, on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “RIGZ”.

The main role of this fund is to attract new mainstream investors with a focus on environmental and social issues.

Viridi Funds, which launched the new investment product, stated that the fund also invests in crypto mining infrastructure businesses and semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics, Nvidia Corp., or Advanced Micro Devices.

Moreover, Viridi Funds CEO Wes Fulford thinks that mining migration from China to North America is good news for the cryptocurrency industry, as more than half of U.S. cryptocurrency mining already uses renewable energy sources. Source

Bitcoin mining is getting cleaner

New data from Cambridge University, which actively monitors and explores the energy side of bitcoin mining, shows that the geography of Bitcoin mining has drastically changed over the last six months in the wake of China’s massive crackdown.

According to the Cambridge data, almost 17% of all BTC mining is now conducted in North America, and at least 50% of that uses renewable energy. China’s previously 65%+ share of the hash pie had dwindled to 46%, according to the data released in April, and it has fallen a lot more since then.

Nowadays, renewable energy sources such as hydropower, solar, wind and even gas combustion are more and more popular as a energetical option for mining bitcoins.

In addition, CNBC, the leading U.S. business channel, has been gathering the opinions of cryptocurrency mining experts in recent months on massive mining migration from China. They have come to the consensus that crypto mining is now environmentally friendlier than it was when China dominated global hash power. Source

MasterCard looks for Stablecoins

Mastercard has announced partnerships with Circle, Paxos, and Evolve Bank & Trust on Tuesday with a goal to facilitate simpler conversions between cryptocurrencies and traditional fiat money.

Mastercard has announced it will enhance its card program for cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges, making the process of converting crypto assets to traditional fiat currency simpler. Today’s news follows an announcement in February, where Mastercard laid out plans to support cryptocurrency payments in 2021.

By announcing its partnership with Circle, Mastercard looks to have chosen USDC as its stablecoin for settlement of payments. Circle’s USDC will act as a bridge between the customer’s crypto assets and fiat money paid to the merchant.

The new process will convert crypto funds into USDC before being settled in U.S. dollars. The extra step will simplify the process of converting cryptocurrencies to fiat. It will also allow more companies to accept crypto payments through Mastercard without worrying about currency conversions. Source

ECB works on digital Euro

The European Central Bank will start an investigation phase of a digital euro project, which will last approximately for 24 months. The organization promised privacy protection and also lower energy consumption than Bitcoin.

Although the idea of a central bank digital currency has floated around for years, the ECB has never shown genuine interest in actually looking into it. In the past, for example, Christine Lagarde has presented the possibilities of a digital euro, but has never confirmed any precise plans for its development.

Now, though, the situation has changed. The ECB has decided to launch a ‘testing period‘ during which the ECB’s research department will aim on addressing key issues regarding design and distribution of the digital euro, as the digital euro must be able to meet the needs of all Europeans.

At the same time, the CBDC should help “to prevent illicit activities and to avoid any undesirable impact on financial stability and monetary policy.” Nevertheless, the bank reaffirmed its intentions to have the digital euro complement cash instead of replacing it. Source

Survey : up to 70% of institutions plan to buy cryptocurrencies in the future

The recent survey shows that up to 7 out of 10 institutional investors asserted that they expect to purchase digital assets sometime in the future.

A survey conducted by Fidelity Digital Assets, which focused on institutional investors and their interest in digital currencies showed shocking results – found out that more than 50 % of global institutional investors had already allocated some of their wealth in the cryptocurrency market.

While most investors are aware of the high volatility in the cryptocurrency market, they see technological and investment potential in cryptocurrencies.

About 90 % of those who showed interest in virtual assets expect the portfolios of their companies or customers to include direct cryptocurrency investments, exposure through stocks, or other products within the next five years.

It is worth noting that the survey included digital and traditional hedge funds, high net worth investors, financial advisors, endowments, and family offices, which taking care about investments of wealthy individual investors. Source

Grayscale launches new DeFi Fund

Grayscale Investments has launched a decentralized finance (DeFi) fund. The new DeFi fund is the crypto asset manager’s 15th investment product.

The newly launched DeFi Fund has a market capitalization-weighted portfolio consisting of the most popular protocols in the space of decentralised finance. From the beginning of this week, the fund is opened for daily subscription by eligible individual and institutional accredited investors.

The new fund includes the following assets:

• Uniswap (UNI)
• Aave (AAVE)
• Compound Finance (COMP)
• Curve (CRV)
• MakerDao (MKR)
• SushiSwap (SUSHI)
• Synthetix (SNX)
• Yearn.Finance (YFI)
• UMA Protocol (UMA)
• Bancor Network Token (BNT)

The company currently has nearly $30 billion (€ 25 billion) in assets under management. Source

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