Avalanche’s AVAX token and Near Protocol’s NEAR have emerged as the top performers in the crypto markets this week. AVAX saw a surge of almost 50% in the past seven days, while NEAR recorded a gain of over 18%. Analysts attribute Avalanche’s rise to its inclusion in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s tokenization initiative, Project Guardian, which also features Onyx by JPMorgan and Apollo Global. NEAR’s strength can be attributed to a series of developments announced at its annual Nearcon conference in Lisbon last week.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin experienced a decline of 3% and Ether fell by 6% over the week. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has filed an S-1 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its iShares Ethereum Trust, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) focused on spot Ether. This move follows Nasdaq’s filing of a 19b-4 with the SEC seeking approval for the spot ETF. The price of Ether briefly jumped nearly 2% to $2,080 on the S-1 filing but has since returned to its previous levels.
CoinShares, a crypto asset manager, has secured an exclusive option to purchase the ETF unit of Valkyrie Investments, positioning itself in the U.S. market amid speculation that the SEC will soon approve a spot Bitcoin ETF. CoinShares, based in Saint Helier, Jersey, and listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, has not disclosed the amount paid for the option or the details of the acquisition’s pricing. While spot crypto exchange-traded products are already available in Europe, the U.S. market is still awaiting such offerings, with expectations that a Bitcoin ETF will open up investment opportunities for a wider range of individuals.
The Chart of the Day reveals that the number of blockchain addresses holding at least $1,000 worth of BTC has reached a record high of 8,306,118 on November 15. This surge in addresses is closely associated with BTC’s price movements. However, Bitcoin’s current price is still 47% below the peak of $69,000 recorded in November 2021.
Source: Glassnode
It is important to note that we may earn a commission from partner links, but this does not affect the opinions or evaluations of our journalists. For more information, please refer to our Ethics Policy.
– Omkar Godbole
