Bitcoin Is a Trillion-Dollar Asset

February 19, 2021

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By Daniel Kuhn

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Sound bites

Michael Venuto of Toroso Asset Management thinks the innovation built during the multi-year bear market has reaped rewards now, as more institutions – from MassMutual to BlackRock – show interest in gaining exposure to bitcoin.

Watch his full "First Mover" live every weekday at 9 a.m. ET on CoinDesk TV.

Top shelf

CeFi and DeFi paddycakes
PancakeSwap is the latest automated market maker (AMM) clone looking to unseat Uniswap

as the top DeFi trading platform. The protocol is developed by Binance and offers reprieve to soaring gas prices on the Ethereum-based original. Liquidity, volumes and the price of its native CAKE token are skyrocketing, perhaps to the ire of stone-cold Ethereum stans.

Binance coin (BNB), a token developed for use across the exchange's suite of products, is now the third-largest coin by market capitalization. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has long been a prominent of "CeDeFi," or decentralized finance with centralized characteristics.

Bitcoin ETFs draw interest
The first North American bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) had a banner first day of trading, with about $165 million worth shares changing hands. This puts its market introduction well above the norm in terms of trading volumes for a new ETF. A second bitcoin ETF will come to market today, also issued in Canada. U.S. securities regulators have been hesitant to approve a number of bitcoin ETF proposals, though some U.S. observers see Canada as leading the charge.

Systemically important: bank says
Bitcoin, and the wider crypto market, could face a severe liquidity shock if traders lost faith in tether (USDT), according to JPMorgan analysts. In a new report, bank analyst played catch-up to the interminable tether conversation, saying the dollar-equivalent stablecoin's implosure could trigger a bank run-like event. There are more than $33 billion USDT in existence, up from $4 billion just 12 months ago.

The cryptocurrency is at the center of a number of conspiracies, including that tether is used to inflate bitcoin's price. Tether, the issuer of USDT, has not been forthcoming about the reserves backing the stablecoin, nor the complexities of its business arrangements. Several lawsuits have been filed against the company, including from New York State.

Carribean crypto sandbox
Canadian fintech firm Bidali announced Thursday that, with the support of the Bermuda government, it has launched a pilot to test a digital Bermuda dollar. Under the pilot program, popular local rum company Gosling's Limited will be accepting digital Bermuda dollars through the Stellar network. In other words, people will be able to buy rum with digital dollars. Bermuda has been studying a CDBC since at least 2018 as a means of improving the nation's financial infrastructure, and has allowed residents to pay taxes in USDC since 2019.

This exchange ain't big enough ...
OKCoin is delisting bitcoin cash (BCH) and bitcoin SV (BSV) to prevent new customers from confusing these two forks for bitcoin (BTC). "This is not an easy decision. We had a choice and there is collateral damage, but we had to stand up for the bigger principle we believe in," OKCoin CEO Hong Fang told CoinDesk. Bitcoin Cash is a clone of Bitcoin, with minor adjustments to increase block sizes. BSV, championed by Craig Wright, known for his claims to be the inventor of the original Bitcoin, is itself a fork of Bitcoin Cash. CoinDesk tech reporter Colin Harper dives in.

What to watch for:

Bitcoin crossed $1 trillion market cap (at around $53,665).
The second Canadian bitcoin ETF launched today.
President Joe Biden heads to a virtual G-7 meeting.

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At stake

$1T

Bitcoin is a trillion-dollar asset. The first and largest cryptocurrency set a new high of $53,739.48 Friday morning, the magic number at which the market value of all bitcoins in circulation is worth $1 trillion. This is up from a $178 billion market capitalization last year, CoinDesk's Zack Voell reports.

While in some sense a meaningless event, it is also a serious milestone on the path for bitcoin to become a significant part of the global financial ecosystem. The open protocol is now more valuable than Facebook, and could soon overtake Alphabet, Google's parent, or Amazon if prices continue to rise.

In 2011, just two years and one month after the Bitcoin "genesis block" was mined, the cryptocurrency hit dollar parity, or the moment when one BTC could be exchanged for $1. This was an important psychological event, proving that bitcoin wasn't just a usable currency, but a viable, alternative monetary system.

"[I]t's like going from kids playing an early version of a game on the street with sticks and rocks, to 10 years later it being the fastest-growing, most important, most impactful game that's taking over the sports world," CoinDesk podcast editor Adam B. Levine, an early adopter, told Blockchain Bites.

"Initial viability is important. Mainstream acceptance is important," he said. Institutions are rapidly entering the bitcoin economy at a moment when the U.S. dollar's longevity has never been more in question.

Indeed, the trillion dollar sign post may signal a future where a dollar price quote for bitcoin hardly matters. It's unlikely the entire global economy is denominated in satoshis – even less so in "bits" – but bitcoin could become a viable global reserve asset. Not just sitting on disruptors like MicroStrategy or Tesla's balance sheets, some predict a world where governments hold.

As Michael Venuto of Toroso Asset Management said this morning on CoinDesk TV, "[Bitcoin's] price is more or less a meme. It gets people excited but perhaps for the wrong reasons, preventing them from going down the rabbit hole."

No consensus?

Public figures and governments are still figuring out this decentralization thing.

Bill Gates has a "neutral view" on bitcoin, but supports digitizing money.
Goldbug Jeffrey Gundlach thinks the orange coin could be a better bet than the yellow metal.
Zug, Switzerland, has started accepting tax payments in cryptocurrency, partnering with Bitcoin Suisse.
Russia wants its digital ruble CBDC to be bank friendly. The nation is still putting pressure on public crypto assets.

Introducing "All About Bitcoin," a show about all things – surprise – bitcoin

From the world leader in crypto news and events, the all-new CoinDesk TV covers the rapidly evolving world of digital finance and its role in the global economy.

"All About Bitcoin," a new daily show, is dedicated to all things, questions and markets related to bitcoin and Bitcoin – and the collective discovery in understanding, applying and using this innovation. All bitcoin, all the time.

Watch "All About Bitcoin" weekdays at 3 p.m. ET on YouTube or CoinDesk.com.

Quick bites

Calling Doctor Cardano: Kiss' Gene Simmons buys ADA (CoinDesk)
Portugal the Man says, "[Fans are] not here to be our ATM," praises social tokens. (Rolling Stone)
Etymology of "crypto." (WSJ)
MicroStrategy completes $1.05 billion debt offering to buy BTC. (MicroStrategy)
Technology Disrupts at Two Different Speeds (One Zero)

Who won Crypto Twitter?

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