Kalam Crypto #113: Tether turns profits into bitcoin & GBTC ETF positive inflows

"Doing something every day turns desired behavior into default behavior. When willpower is lacking, routine takes over."  Shane Parrish 

Ahlan wa sahlan, and welcome to the 113th edition of CoinMENA's weekly newsletter, Kalam Crypto. This week, Tether announced record profits and bought more bitcoin, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC ETF) experienced its first day of positive net inflows since launching in January, and USDT on Ton reached 100 million in circulation just 2 weeks after launching! All that and more on this week’s Kalam Crypto.

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Global News 🌍

Tether achieves record profits, and buys more bitcoin: Tether, the issuer of USDT, reports a record profit of $4.52 billion in Q1/2024, despite a decline in market share. The profit, comprising $1 billion in net operating profits primarily from US T-Bills, alongside gains from Bitcoin and Gold positions, underscores Tether's robust financial performance. As announced last year, Tether will be allocating a portion of its profits to Bitcoin. In Q1, they quietly acquired nearly 8,889 bitcoins, according to on-chain analysts. Though not formally announced, a wallet linked to Tether received this amount on March 31. With this acquisition, the wallet now holds about 75,354 bitcoins, valued at $5.2 billion, signaling a substantial profit increase to approximately $3 billion.

GBTC ETF Positive Net Inflows: The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the largest bitcoin ETF, experienced a net inflow of $63 million, marking its first daily increase since its launch in January. While GBTC historically dominated conventional bitcoin investment vehicles, its conversion into an ETF in January faced challenges from competitors offering lower fees. Despite recent outflows reducing its bitcoin holdings, Friday's inflow breaks the streak of net withdrawals, positioning GBTC against BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) for the top bitcoin ETF spot. With $18.1 billion in assets, GBTC leads IBIT's $16.9 billion, reflecting a significant shift in the ETF landscape since January.

Keep an eye on 👀

U.S. Regulators continue crackdown on crypto firms: On May 4, Robinhood Crypto, a division of Robinhood Markets, received a Wells Notice from the SEC, signaling potential enforcement action due to alleged securities violations. This development follows a previous investigative subpoena from the SEC regarding Robinhood's cryptocurrency listings. Additionally, last month saw Uniswap and Consensys also receiving Wells Notices from the SEC, prompting criticism from Uniswap's founder about the SEC's targeting of reputable entities. In response, Consensys filed a lawsuit against the SEC and cautioned that classifying ether as a security could impede innovation in U.S. blockchain technology. 

CoinMENA News 🗞️

📢CoinMENA Enables USDT Withdrawals via TON: CoinMENA users can now seamlessly send USDT via the Ton blockchain! This milestone makes CoinMENA the first regional platform to enable USDT withdrawals via the Ton network. TON is the third blockchain available to CoinMENA users for sending (withdrawing) USDT, alongside Ethereum’s ERC-20 and TRON’s TRC-20.

💲1,000 Giveaway: ✅️Verify Your Account & Two Users Could Pocket $500 each! Simply verify your account before May 14th, 2024 to win big. Two winners will each receive $500.

Tweet Of The Week 🐥

Quiz Corner ✅ 

Last week’s question: How many blockchains can CoinMENA use to send USDT

 The Correct answer is c) Three networks: TON, ERC-20, and TRC-20

This week’s question: What recent feature has CoinMENA introduced regarding USDT withdrawals?

a) Enabling withdrawals via Bitcoin's Lightning Network

b) Partnering with a major bank for USDT withdrawals

c) Enabling withdrawals via the TON blockchain

d) Introducing a new stablecoin for withdrawals

See the answer in next week’s newsletter. Or check out our new learning platform https://university.coinmena.com/