Crypto Weekly Digest | Bitcoin Soars 140% This Year! Are Pension Funds Getting Restless?

Moomoo News SG wrote a column · Dec 16, 2024 17:03

Crypto Weekly Digest | Bitcoin Soars 140% This Year! Are Pension Funds Getting Restless?

Major Australian pension fund makes rare allocation to Bitcoin; NASDAQ 100 constituent adjustment announced! Major Bitcoin holder MSTR included.

Last week, $Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$ fluctuated upward, and as of press time, Bitcoin had surpassed $104,000, accumulating a 140% increase for the year, while $Ethereum (ETH.CC)$ continued to hover around $4,000.

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Last Week's Hot Topics:

1. Trump Rings NYSE Opening Bell: The Stock Market is Everything, Major Actions on Cryptocurrencies Planned

On last Thursday, Trump rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. He emphasized the importance of the stock market, stating that "the stock market is everything" and announced plans to take significant actions on cryptocurrencies. He also mentioned a proposal to reduce corporate tax rates to 15% and to increase oil drilling to alleviate current inflation pressures.

2. Trump's Cryptocurrency Project Acquires Ethereum and Niche Tokens, Likely Linked to Upcoming Operations

The cryptocurrency project of the President-elect of the United States, World Liberty Financial (WLF), has recently attracted attention in the blockchain community, and according to analysis by blockchain data firm Nansen, wallets associated with the project purchased Ethereum and niche digital tokens starting December 11. These purchases, totaling about $14 million, include 2731 $Ethereum (ETH.CC)$, 4043 $Aave (AAVE.CC)$ , and 78387 $ChainLink (LINK.CC)$. The strong recent market performance of these tokens—LINK rose 30% since last Tuesday and Ethereum by 8%—has brought more positive market expectations for WLF.

3. Texas Proposes Establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, Paving the Way for National-Level Reserves in the US

On last Thursday, Texas proposed legislation establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve by accepting Bitcoin for taxes, fees, and donations, with a minimum holding period of 5 years. This Texas proposal could pave the way for future national-level strategic Bitcoin reserve plans in the US. Following Texas's lead, other states like Pennsylvania proposed similar bills last month and states like Oklahoma have passed laws protecting Bitcoin-related rights.

4. Microsoft Shareholders Vote Against Allocating Bitcoin

On last Tuesday, December 10th, shareholders of Microsoft Corporation voted against a proposal to allocate Bitcoin. The reason cited was that Microsoft's existing strategy is already evaluating a variety of investable assets, including Bitcoin, as part of a broader investment framework.

5. Bitcoin Surges! Even Pension Funds Are Getting Restless? Major Australian Pension Fund Makes Rare Bitcoin Allocation

Recently, Anna Shelley, the Chief Investment Officer of Australian pension and wealth management company AMP Ltd, stated that in May this year, AMP invested about 27 million Australian dollars to purchase Bitcoin, which only represents 0.05% of the 57 billion Australian dollars managed by AMP. At the time of purchase, Bitcoin's trading price was between $60,000 and $70,000. She mentioned that this investment is part of AMP's diversification strategy.

Opinion Pieces:

1. Global Largest Asset Manager BlackRock: "2% Allocation to Bitcoin in a Portfolio is Reasonable"

BlackRock recommends that interested investors consider allocating as much as 2% of their portfolio to bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, the giant asset manager said in a report on last Thursday. "We see a case for investors with suitable governance and risk tolerance to include bitcoin in a multi-asset portfolio," a team of four senior BlackRock executives including Samara Cohen, chief investment officer of ETFs and Paul Henderson, senior portfolio strategist of BlackRock Investment Institute, said in the short report.

2. Bridgewater Founder Advises Investors to Shift from Bonds to 'Hard Money' like Gold and Bitcoin

Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater, at the Abu Dhabi Finance Conference, advised investors to move away from debt assets like bonds and towards 'hard money' such as gold and Bitcoin.

Dalio pointed out that debt levels in major economies, except for Germany, have reached "unprecedented" levels and that a debt crisis is inevitable in the coming years, which will lead to a significant devaluation of currency values. He emphasized that debt, currency, and the economy are among the five key forces that will influence future developments, along with domestic political order and geopolitical landscape.

3. Bitwise's Top 10 Cryptocurrency Predictions for 2025

Bitwise has released its predictions for the top 10 cryptocurrencies of 2025, including:

Bitwise

Stock Watch:

1. NASDAQ 100 Constituent Adjustment Announced! Major Bitcoin Holder MSTR Included

On Saturday, the $NASDAQ 100 Index (.NDX.US)$ announced its annual constituent adjustment, which will add three companies: $Palantir (PLTR.US)$, $Strategy (MSTR.US)$, and $Axon Enterprise (AXON.US)$.

$Illumina (ILMN.US)$, $Super Micro Computer (SMCI.US)$, and $Moderna (MRNA.US)$ will be removed from the index.

2. MicroStrategy Spends $2.1 Billion in a Single Week! Adds More Bitcoin

On last Monday, MicroStrategy announced another purchase of Bitcoin valued at $2.1 billion. This marks the fifth consecutive Monday that the company has announced a Bitcoin purchase. According to a document submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, MicroStrategy acquired 21,550 bitcoins between December 2 and December 8 at an average price of approximately $98,783 per bitcoin.Michael Saylor, co-founder and chairman of MicroStrategy, has accumulated about $41 billion worth of Bitcoin over the past four years. He believes that this small enterprise software manufacturer needs to find a new path to survive. However, Min Jung, an analyst at research firm Presto Research, suggests that MicroStrategy's reliance on Bitcoin to meet its financial needs may pose risks.

Currently, the favorable price trend of Bitcoin allows MicroStrategy to maintain a positive feedback loop—rising stock prices can increase financing opportunities, providing funds for further Bitcoin purchases, thus driving up both Bitcoin prices and the company's stock value. While this strategy works during bull markets, its sustainability largely depends on the continued appreciation of Bitcoin.

3. Behind the Record High Stock Price, Bitdeer's Three New Strategies

$Bitdeer Technologies (BTDR.US)$ reached a new all-time high last week, with its stock price doubling this year.

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Behind the strong stock performance, Bitdeer's three major strategies in recent years are noteworthy:

Entering the Mining Machine MarketSince this year, Bitdeer has been intensifying its efforts in the development of mining machine products, launching the SEALMINER A1 model in March and the second-generation A2 series in October.

Tether Becomes a Major ShareholderIn June, Bitdeer announced a private funding round of up to $150 million, selling $100 million worth of shares to stablecoin issuer Tether and granting Tether an option to purchase an additional $50 million in shares within 12 months. As a result of this private placement of 18,587,360 Class A ordinary shares to Tether, which represents 15% of the total shares, Tether has become a major shareholder of Bitdeer.

Collaboration with the Kingdom of Bhutan to Operate MinesIn early May 2023, Bitdeer announced a collaboration with the Bhutanese government's commercial enterprise, Druk Holding & Investments (DHI), to develop environmentally sustainable, zero-carbon digital asset mining operations in the country. Currently, the Bhutanese government's marked address holds about 11,790 BTC, valued at $1.16 billion.

ETF Net Flows:

U.S. Bitcoin ETF