Digital analytics firm Chainalysis reported that the growth in North America’s crypto market has been driven by the rise in popularity of decentralized finance. In its 2021 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report, Chainalysis said the monthly crypto transaction volume across North America grew by more than 1,000% from July 2020 to June 2021. The monthly volume reached a peak of $164 billion in May 2021 before dipping to just over $100 billion in June. According to the report, decentralized finance, or DeFi, was largely responsible for North America continuing to maintain its position as one of the largest crypto markets worldwide. …

The Bank of America Corporation (BoA) has published a research report offering a bullish outlook for the long-term prospects of cryptocurrency. The report, published on Monday by BoA subsidiary, BofA Securities, offers a nuanced appraisal of the digital asset sector that highlights innovation taking place within the decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible token (NFT) sectors. The report asserts that the cryptocurrency sector’s $2.15-trillion market capitalization is “too large to ignore,” highlighting that the digital asset ecosystem has evolved to encompass “so much more” than just Bitcoin (BTC). The report characterizes the sector as comprising “tokens that act like operating systems, …

Institutional investors were buying the dip on the back of China’s latest FUD, with digital asset investment products generating $95 million worth of inflows last week. According to CoinShares’ Monday “Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly” report, a surge in dip buying helped drive a sixth consecutive week of inflows for institutional crypto investment products broadly. The $95 million worth of inflows between Sept. 20 and Friday marks a 126% weekly inflows increase. Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) investment products led the pack with $50.2 million and $28.9 million worth of inflows, respectively. While BTC investment products have seen outflows in …

Institutional demand for altcoin exposure has surged to record levels, with the altcoin market share now representing a record 35% of capital locked in crypto investment products. According to the Sept. 7 issue of CoinShares’ Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly, nearly 40% of the past week's inflows to digital asset investment products were allocated to instruments tracking altcoins. While $97.8 million was invested into crypto investment products combined between Aug. 30 and Sept. 3 to mark the sector’s third consecutive week of inflows, $38.9 million was invested into altcoin products. This past week also saw a sizeable increase in institutional …

Crypto grew to represent 73% of trading commissions on popular retail trading app eToro in the second quarter. eToro announced its Q2 results on Aug. 25, with the firm posting $362 million worth of total trading commissions and reporting its assets under administration had reached $9.4 billion. In an investor update released on the same day, the firm outlined that crypto-assets accounted for 73%, or $264.26 million of commissions, which marked a massive 2259% increase compared to the $11.2 million reported in Q2 2020. Overall trading volumes are up 125% on Q2 2020, with Yoni Assia, the CEO and co-founder …

Institutional investors are loading up on Solana (SOL), with one-third of inflows to crypto investment products being invested in instruments tracking Solana this past week. According to CoinShares’ Monday “Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly” report, $7.1 million flowed into Solana investment products between Aug. 15 and Friday. While the price of SOL gained a meager 1.4% on spot markets over the same period, SOL has gained 110% from $35.58 since the start of August to trade for $75 as of this writing. CoinShares’ report notes that institutional crypto investment products bucked a six-week trend of outflows, with roughly $21 million …

Mike Novogratz’s crypto investment firm, Galaxy Digital Holdings, has posted a second-quarter loss of $175.8 million. The figure provides a stark contrast to the firm’s first-quarter report, which booked $860 million in comprehensive net profit earlier this year. Galaxy Digital posted its financial results as of June 30 on Monday, with the firm attributing the $175.8-million Q2 loss to asset price declines after FUD-inducing narratives fueled the crypto downturn in May. “During the quarter, our results were impacted by a 34% decline in overall digital asset prices and a 41% decline in the price of Bitcoin, relative to the end …

Coinbase generated $2.23 billion of revenue for the second quarter of 2021, as Ether (ETH) trading volume surpassed Bitcoin’s (BTC) for the first time on the platform. Coinbase posted its Q2 report on Tuesday, and the crypto exchange’s revenue beat analyst predictions — with industry-standard financial estimators Refinitiv forecasting $1.78 billion in expected revenue for the firm. Coinbase’s earnings per share came in at $3.45, compared to estimates of $2.33. The trading platform posted a net profit of $1.6 billion in Q2, a whopping increase of 4,900% compared to the $32 million recorded in the same period in 2020. For …

American cinema operator AMC Entertainment is aiming to accept Bitcoin (BTC) payments for movie tickets by 2022. Speaking during a Monday conference call regarding the firm’s Q2 results announced earlier the same day, AMC chairman and CEO Adam Aron revealed that the cinema chain intends to have the infrastructure ready to accept BTC payments for online movie tickets by the end of 2021. While details regarding AMC’s plan to accept Bitcoin are scant, Aron reported strong demand for buying movie tickets with crypto from the firm’s customers. AMC’s Q2 results showed significant improvements compared to last year, reporting $444 million …

Business intelligence and mobile software firm MicroStrategy has pledged to buy more Bitcoin despite reporting impairment losses of $424.8 million in Q2. This is only a paper loss, however, based on the price of Bitcoin at the end of the quarter and does not reflect a realized loss. Depending on how you add the figures up, MicroStrategy appears to have made nearly one billion dollars more from Bitcoin than it spent. Along with CEO Michael Saylor’s fervent belief in Bitcoin, that may be why it’s resolved to add more Bitcoin to its reserves going forward. The report stated: “We continue …

Electric vehicle and clean energy firm Tesla has reported $1.14 billion in net income for the second quarter. The firm’s Monday earnings report showed that total revenue grew by 98% year-on-year for Q2, increasing from $6 billion in 2020 to $11.9 billion this year. Tesla attributed the bulk of its growth to a surge in demand for its electric vehicles, stating: “In the second quarter of 2021, we broke new and notable records. We produced and delivered over 200,000 vehicles, achieved an operating margin of 11.0%, and exceeded $1B of GAAP net income for the first time in our history.” …

Institutions are continuing to sit on the sidelines of the Bitcoin markets, with BTC investment products volumes dropping to just 38% of its year-to year-to-date (YTD) average over the past week. According to CoinShares’ July 19 Digital Asset Fund Flow Weekly report, Bitcoin investment products generated roughly $3.9 billion worth of daily trade from July 12 to July 16, down substantially from 2021’s average of nearly $10 billion. However, the report’s authors do not conclude the decline in trade activity is cause for alarm, with CoinShares noting that Bitcoin has experienced “similar seasonal dips in volumes during the summer months …