Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of Overbit Weekly Round Up.
We kick off today’s Overbit Weekly Round Up with news that Cardano (ADA) and TRON (TRX) both fell in value on Wednesday after online trading company eToro decided to delist the digital coins from its platform, a move that baffled crypto market experts.
According to market statistics, TRON is down more than 5% on the day, while Cardano is down more than 8%. eToro justified its decision on unexplained regulatory reasons in a short statement, but it comes when regulators are attempting to establish more control over the crypto sector to protect investors.
“The regulatory landscape for crypto is evolving rapidly. As a result, we will be limiting the ability for US users to open new positions in, or earn staking rewards for, ADA and TRX,” said an eToro spokesperson.
Users will no longer be allowed to create new positions in either coin after December 26, and their ability to earn a dividend for staking the same assets will expire on December 31. According to Yahoo Finance, Mati Greenspan, CEO of financial research firm Quantum Economics, couldn’t instantly tell which US restrictions apply to ADA and TRX that don’t also apply to the rest of the crypto industry.
“As a user and former employee I support their decision but a bit more clarity into their train of thought would be appreciated by the community,” said Greenspan. This could be interpreted as a reflection of the changing regulatory landscape of crypto, and we now move on to our final story of today’s Overbit Weekly Round Up, which looks at the latest institution to increase its cryptocurrency holdings.
According to a recent report from CoinTelegraph, Morgan Stanley’s investment funds have increased their exposure to Bitcoin by purchasing shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. Based on SEC documents released on Tuesday, the Morgan Stanley Insight Fund grew its holdings of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, or GBTC, by more than 63 per cent, from 928,051 shares in the second quarter of 2021 to 1,520,549 shares as of September 30.
According to filings on the firm’s Growth Portfolio, it had 3,642,118 GBTC shares in the third quarter of 2021, up 71 per cent from 2,130,153 shares in the second quarter. In three months, the Morgan Stanley Global Opportunity Portfolio held 1,463,714 GBTC, up 59 per cent from 919,805 shares. The price of GBTC is $45.72 at the time of publication, putting the investment bank’s Bitcoin exposure across these three funds at around $303 million with 6,626,381 shares as of September 30. The firm’s Europe Opportunity Fund, which invests in established and rising companies across Europe, has more than doubled its shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust since April as well, according to Cointelegraph.
At the time of publication, the fund had not disclosed any further BTC exposure.
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