Here comes Friday, October 27. As the week comes to an end we can focus on the highlights of the crypto industry over the past few days.
MicroStrategy Bitcoin paper profit surpasses $170m
On Oct. 23, as bitcoin hit mental-stumbling $30,000 level, analytics software provider MicroStrategy have climbed into the positive territory in terms of digital gold position.
As of this writing, unrealized gains have reached $170.7m.
MicroStrategy additionally acquired 5,445 BTC back in September.
The company ended up owning 158,245 BTC with an average purchase price of $29,582. By comparison, Tesla’s figure is ~$32,000.
In June, the software provider revealed its investments in the pioneering cryptocurrency over the second quarter – 12,333 BTC worth $347m. Prior to that, in March MicroStrategy invested $150m in bitcoin.
As of August, MicroStrategy bought some more 467 BTC for $14.4m. The firm made its only sale in December 2022, selling 704 BTC at an average price of $16,776.
Let us remind you that in May the firm backed a FASB proposal that calls for the use of fair value accounting for crypto on the balance sheet.
Telegram eyes IPO in 2025
A presentation on Telegram Group Inc.’s preparations for an initial public offering in the Q2 and Q3 of 2025 has popped up online. The document is allegedly distributed by the Russian brokerage BKS Mir Investiciy.
Investors are invited to purchase Telegram bonds issued in 2021, which can be converted into shares at IPO with a guaranteed yield.
The following conversion scheme is provided:
- 10% discount if the IPO takes place before March 2024;
- 15% discount in case of IPO before March 2025;
- 20% discount in case of before March 2026;
- redemption in 2026 if the IPO fails.
The presentation notes that the underlying asset (Telegram bonds with a 7% coupon) has not been purchased at the time of the settlement contract. In case BCS fails to acquire the underlying asset, customers are promised a refund with a return of 3% per annum.
According to the summary, 100% of Telegram Group Inc. is owned by Pavel Durov. The firm’s total liabilities total $2 billion.
Among the listed Telegram monetization channels are:
- contextual advertising;
- premium features for organizations and communities;
- collaboration with The Open Network, including selling usernames on the Fragment platform and adding a native crypto wallet;
- creating bots for shopping within the messenger.
In addition, the dev team plans to allow ads on Stories, expand premium account functionality for teams, and launch a payment service for P2P and P2M transactions in India with an unnamed major local player.
The Association of Bondholders confirmed receipt of this presentation by the clients of BKS, as they commented to RBC.
Georgy Lobushkin, the former PR director of VK social network, founded by Pavel Durov, reposted the record with the document in question.
Rumors about Telegram’s intentions to go public date back to 2021. At that time, the company considered Nasdaq and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as platforms for the flotation.
Recall that in March 2021, Telegram raised over $1 billion through the sale of convertible bonds.
Court orders SEC to review Grayscale’s spot bitcoin ETF
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has formally approved a ruling that the Securities and Exchanges Commission needs to reconsider Grayscale Investments’ application to convert GBTC into a spot ETF based on the alpha cryptocurrency.
In June, the asset management company sued the regulator for refusing to convert their flagship trust. The firm submitted the application way back in October 2021.
In late August, the court granted Grayscale’s motion and ordered the Commission to revise the ruling.
The new document reiterates the appellate decision. According to the judgment, the management company has proven that the proposed spot ETF is similar to the bitcoin futures one which is already approved.
It became known that the SEC does not plan to appeal the court’s decision in the case against Grayscale.
The firm will list GBTC on NYSE Arca exchange. Upon approval of Form S-3 and a separate 19b-4 filing, the company will begin releasing the product on a permanent basis.
Back in July, the SEC accepted requests to launch spot bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock, VanEck, Invesco, Fidelity Investments and WisdomTree. Franklin Templeton later joined them.
During the last day of summer, on August 31, the regulator postponed a decision on several applications until at least mid-October. In late September, the regulator put on hold its review of the bitcoin-ETF until January 2024.
Let us remind you that JPMorgan called the launch of gamechanging investment products into doubt due to the low interest in it in those jurisdictions where they are allowed.
In October, Matrixport analysts predicted digital gold surge to $42,000-56,000 as a result of the approval of the bitcoin-ETF. CryptoQuant estimated the rise between $50,000-73,000.
FTX moves $20m from cold wallets to Binance and Coinbase
Affiliates of the now-collapsed FTX and Alameda public addresses transferred more than $10 million worth of crypto to the accounts of several exchanges in five hours, Lookonchain analysts reported .
According to onchain data, here’s what company-owned wallets sent to prominent exchanges:
- 2904 ETH (~$5.21m);
- 1341 MKR (~$2.01m);
- 11,975 AAVE (~$1.02m);
198,807 LINK (~$2.27m).
The firms later transferred an additional 974,270 RNDR (which is roughly $2 million) and 21,967 COMP (~$995k).
On Sept. 13, the court approved a plan to sell the bankrupt firm’s digital assets to pay off lenders’ claims. The ruling requires FTX to liquidate no more than $100 million worth of tokens per week for each position. However, with the authorization of the special committee, the limit can be increased to $200 million either on a lump sum or permanent basis.
Exchange customers could recover $9.2 billion in claims payments by mid-2024, according to a plan approved by creditor representatives and the company’s new management.
As you can remember, the cost of FTX claims rose to 52 cents for every dollar in OTC trades.