Record High Bitcoin Activity Following Runes Launch; Hong Kong's Crypto ETFs Commence Trading
Summary:
Bitcoin network's activity hits a record with over 1.6 million unique transactions in a day following the launch of Runes, a new fungible token standard. At the same time, Hong Kong's spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs have begun trading, unaffected by the US's potential classification of Ether as a security. Moreover, restaking protocol EigenLayer faces criticism after the release of its whitepaper for the new token "EIGEN", and excluding certain regions from its airdrop.
In a new record, Bitcoin activity soared following the introduction of Runes. Spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Hong Kong have commenced operations, not showing any worry over the potential classification of Ether as a security in the United States. In another development, EigenLayer, the restaking protocol, faced criticism post making public its whitepaper for a new token while also announcing an airdrop. On April 23, a new high was achieved when Bitcoin's network documented over 1.6 million unique transactions, three days into the latest halving cycle commenced on April 20.
Data insights from Blockchain.com and Glassnode exemplify a clear link between the surge in daily Bitcoin transactions and the introduction of Bitcoin Runes - an alternate to Bitcoin Ordinals alongside the BRC-20 protocol on the Bitcoin blockchain. On April 23 in particular, Runes accounted for 81.3% of all Bitcoin transactions, as per Dune Analytics. Both Runes and BRC-20 tokens are aiming to increase Bitcoin's usability via a Bitcoin Decentralised Finance (DeFi) concept, or BTCFi.
In Hong Kong, ETF providers have stated their unconcern over the US regulators potentially classifying Ether (ETH) as a security. On April 29, one day before the initiation of spot crypto ETFs in Hong Kong, Zhu Haokang from China Asset Management and Wayne Huang from OSL Digital Securities addressed queries on these new investment tools. Huang explained, even if the US were to classify Ethereum as security, it would not have an effect on the independent decision-making of Hong Kong's Securities Regulatory Commission. This is because the commission has set processes in place to decide which crypto assets will be classified as securities and whether they can be traded by retail investors. It is not influenced by differing viewpoints in the United States or solely by their final definition.
On April 30, crypto ETFs were also launched by Bosera Asset Management and Harvest Global Investments via their Hong Kong divisions on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with the tickers CAM, BOS, and HGI.
In related news, EigenLayer unveiled a whitepaper on April 29 outlining its new token, EIGEN, intended for apps that require intersubjective agreement, such as prediction markets and gaming. However, the token’s airdrop will not include certain regions, including the United States and Canada. The protocol has designated 5% of EIGEN’s overall supply to users who have restaked ETH on their network, based on a snapshot captured on March 15. More tokens are expected to be given to the participants of "Season 2”, which commenced after the snapshot, although the end date is yet to be disclosed.
Published At
4/30/2024 3:48:46 PM
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