Investment product issuer 21Shares has joined forces with comdirect, a leading online brokerage in Germany, to bring its cryptocurrency exchange-traded products, or ETPs, to savings accounts. The partnership means that comdirect’s nearly 3 million customers will be able to integrate physically-backed crypto ETPs into their Spar savings accounts. 21Shares claims this is the first such instance where investors can gain crypto exposure in their savings accounts. Marco Infuso, a managing director at 21Shares, said the new product offering will enable comdirect clients to include crypto in their retirement planning and will also help onboard investors who have been apprehensive about …

New use cases for nonfungible tokens are continually emerging. Now, one project is combining NFTs with real estate — delivering fractional property ownership. LABS Group says it is establishing the world’s first community-owned resort, allowing people to purchase a stake in the Kunang Kunang glamping resort. Surrounded by green forests, the property offers 15 private pods and a grand suite. The Indonesian island of Bali is a 30-minute flight away — and local attractions include waterfalls and a breathtaking volcano. According to those behind this project, traditional timeshares can be full of pain points. Owners of timeshares only have the …

Crypto market capitalization is down more than 40% since its $2.5-trillion high back in early May, but institutional investors continue to pile into the market. Despite Bitcoin (BTC) losing over half of its United States dollar value and altcoins tanking almost 70% on average, big-money players like hedge funds are still taking up digital currency investment positions. From direct exposure to crypto to backing firms developing products and services in the digital asset space, institutional investors are building a more significant presence in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. Back in June, a survey of 100 chief financial officers at hedge …

Australia’s Minister for Industry, Science and Technology announced 5.6 million Australian dollars ($4.2 million) in grants to two blockchain-focused companies, including traceability firm Everledger and technology consulting startup Convergence.tech. Everledger, a company focused on building a global registry for diamonds, has received 3 million AUD ($2.2 million) to investigate blockchain technology’s use cases for creating digital certifications for critical minerals through the extraction and movement phases. As previously reported, the firm was deploying blockchain technology by software giant IBM for a transparency platform for the diamond industry. Covergence.tech received $2.6 million AUD ($2 million) to apply blockchain technology for automatic …

Cryptocurrency asset manager Grayscale Investments continues reinforcing its commitment to digital currency investment products with a new filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. The company announced Monday that it has filed a Form 10 registration statement with the SEC on behalf of its Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC) to become an SEC reporting company. Grayscale’s diversified digital currency investment fund will now file its reports and financial statements as 10-Qs and 10-Ks with the SEC, along with current reports on Form 8-K, in addition to “complying with all other obligations” under the Exchange Act, …

As Bitcoin (BTC) struggles around the $32,700 mark after the July 8 price drop, another major event looms over the flagship cryptocurrency in July, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) unlock. A total of nearly 40,000 BTC will be unlocked in July, amounting to nearly $1.5 billion in notional value. The biggest of these unlocks will be on July 18 when 16,240 BTC will be available due to the release of the six-month lock-in period for GBTC shares. The tranche of shares consists of positions locked in Q1 2021 with a notional value of around $530 million, making this the largest …

Despite ongoing vaccination efforts and pandemic aid, the world’s economy looks remarkably different than it did over a year ago. The new financial landscape and continued uncertainty have accelerated the shift away from traditional financial institutions. As the economy attempts to roar into high gear from a standing start, the world of cryptocurrency has taken to the main stage. It has cemented itself as a recognized asset class by major asset managers, investment banks and hedge funds. As the speed of mainstream adoption continues to take the financial world by storm, it is also paving the way for investors to …

Financial services company Capital International invested more than half a billion dollars into business intelligence firm MicroStrategy stock. In MicroStrategy’s filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, for the second quarter of 2021, the firm disclosed Capital International Investors has purchased 953,242 shares of its stock. Following the release of the SEC filing, MicroStrategy’s stock price rose by more than 1.5% to reach $628.44 at the time of publication, making Capital International’s shares worth roughly $600 million. Capital International’s Q1 2021 filing with the SEC reportedly showed the firm did not own any shares of MicroStrategy as …

A new survey paints a bleak picture of British crypto investors' motivations, knowledge and exposure when it comes to their investments. Almost two in five (36%) of retail crypto investors in the country have conceded that their understanding of the sector was "poor or non-existent" when they made their first investments. As time has gone on, 21% of investors holding crypto still rated their knowledge of the sector as being equally low. The survey was conducted by Oxford Risk, a commercial software firm whose focus is on products for wealth managers and financial services firms. While small – just 1,038 …

Household debt for younger Koreans — those born from the 1980s onward — has surged to $22.7 billion, up from $3.9 billion from last year. Data from South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), released today by Representative Kim Han-jeong of the Democratic Party of Korea, reportedly indicates that the high levels of lending are attributable to an increase in investments in cryptocurrencies, stocks and real estate. While millennials and Gen Z accounted for roughly 34% of total household debt in Korea in 2019, that figure grew to 45.5% by 2020 and is now at 50.7%. Rep. Kim has called for …

A new survey suggests that hedge fund executives, wealth managers and institutional investors already holding crypto assets intend to increase their holdings. The survey, conducted by London-based crypto fund Nickel Digital Asset Management, revealed that 82% of the 100 investors and wealth managers polled expect to increase their exposure to digital assets between now and 2023. The research, conducted online in May and June and shared with Cointelegraph, surveyed 50 wealth managers and 50 institutional investors with prior exposure to crypto assets spanning the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United Arab Emirates. Four out of 10, …

In this article, I intend to discuss the importance of market data, decentralized finance (DeFi) econometrics and applied DeFi research on crypto (and digital) assets as a corollary to financial econometrics and applied research. I will also attempt to draw upon the perspective and findings from Eugene Fama’s seminal papers based on his interest in measuring the statistical properties of stock prices and resolving the debate between technical analysis (the use of geometric patterns in price and volume charts to forecast future price movements of a security) and fundamental analysis (the use of accounting and economic data to determine a …