The Block
Quick Take An anonymous wallet has spent 1.5 BTC, or about $66,000, to inscribe encrypted data onto the Bitcoin blockchain, where it will remain forever. As of yet, no one has come forward to claim ownership over the inscriptions.
Quick Take The number of in-person merchants who accept bitcoin has tripled in the past year, according to data from BTC Map. There are currently over 6,000 vendors that accept bitcoin around the world, with many located in Latin America.
Quick Take The crypto market is anticipating that the SEC might take a final step toward the approval of a spot bitcoin ETF soon, with some asset managers reportedly expecting a decision as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday. Here’s how to know if the SEC has approved, denied, or delayed any of the pending decisions.
Quick Take BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, expects the SEC to approve its application for a spot Bitcoin ETF on next Wednesday, according to a report by Fox Business. The company is also expecting to cut 3% of staff, or about 600 jobs.
Quick Take The non-partisan nonprofit Better Markets has sent a letter to the SEC urging the agency to deny recent applications for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds submitted by several financial firms. In the letter, Better Markets calls crypto “little more than a socially worthless gambling chip.”
Quick Take Someone sent $1.2 million of bitcoin seemingly from Binance to the Bitcoin network’s Genesis wallet. The Genesis wallet now has a balance of almost 100 bitcoin.
Quick Take DCG said Friday that it completed a payoff of all short-term loans from Genesis.
Quick Take Stock exchanges filed updated 19b-4 forms for proposed bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale Investments, Valkyrie, BlackRock, ARK 21Shares and Invesco. The moves were significant, as market watchers had been expecting updated filings to come before any kind of approval from the SEC.
Quick Take Transaction volumes of Solana-based tokens has reached the highest level in more than a year, according to data from The Block. Economic throughput of tokens using the SPL token standard has increased 700% in the past 30 days.
Quick Take Investment firm VanEck pledged 5% of the profits from a potential spot bitcoin ETF to support Bitcoin core developers at Brink. It has also made a $10,000 donation to Brink.
