Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.
Regulatory scrutiny has brought an end to Binance’s presence in Nigeria, with the exchange announcing it is withdrawing entirely from the market. Grayscale’s GBTC Bitcoin holdings are now down 33% from when it converted to a spot Bitcoin ETF. Meanwhile, shares of MicroStrategy spiked more than 20% on March 4 as the price of Bitcoin crossed $67,000.
Binance to cease all Nigerian naira transactions
Major global cryptocurrency exchange Binance is exiting the Nigerian market, announcing the full discontinuation of all services in the local fiat currency, the Nigerian naira (NGN).
Binance officially announced on March 5 that the platform will suspend NGN withdrawals after March 8. From March 8, any remaining NGN balances in users’ Binance accounts will be automatically converted to the Tether stablecoin, the announcement said.
The news of the complete removal of the Nigerian naira from Binance comes amid the company facing significant regulatory scrutiny in the country.
Grayscale’s GBTC Bitcoin holdings have fallen 33% since its conversion
The world’s largest crypto asset manager, Grayscale, has now seen nearly 33% of its Bitcoin holdings on GBTC removed since it converted into an ETF in mid-January.
On March 4, GBTC saw its 36th day of straight outflows, with 5,450 BTC or $368 million leaving the trust and bringing the total outflow since its conversion to $9.26 billion, according to BitMEX Research.
Before it converted the fund to an ETF, Grayscale held around 620,000 BTC, according to Coinglass.
But the launch of Grayscale’s spot Bitcoin ETF allowed investors to finally do something that wasn’t allowed in the previous structure — redeeming their shares for Bitcoin. It also hasn’t helped that GBTC has higher fees than some of the other ETFs, such as BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC.
The GBTC fund now holds 420,682 BTC worth an estimated $28.8 billion at current prices, according to its website and portfolio.
Despite the continued outflows, Bitcoin has continued to rally and is nearing its all-time high of $68,990 on Coinbase.
MSTR stock spikes over 20% as Bitcoin approaches all-time high
Shares of MicroStrategy (MSTR) spiked on March 4 as Bitcoin’s ongoing price rally provided the business intelligence firm with additional rocket fuel.
MSTR surged more than 20% in intraday trading to peak at $1,339. It would later pare some of those gains, but it remained firmly above $1,260.
The company’s stock is experiencing a huge tailwind as Bitcoin approaches a new all-time high. The BTC price crossed $67,000 on March 4, having gained more than 56% over the past month.
As Cointelegraph reported, MicroStrategy added another 3,000 BTC to its balance sheet in mid-February, bringing its total holdings to 193,000 BTC. Chairman Michael Saylor has repeatedly stated that he and MicroStrategy intend to keep buying Bitcoin “forever.”
Bitcoin passes new all-time high in euros
Bitcoin passed a new all-time high against the euro as the cryptocurrency’s price reached a new multiyear high of $65,000.
According to data from TradingView, Bitcoin touched 60,393 euros at 8:30 am UTC, surging about 5% from its intraday low of 57,521 euros. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at 59,981 euros, up around 56% year-to-date.
River Intelligence marketing head Sam Wouters said the Mexican peso is the next most ambitious target for Bitcoin to smash. According to data from Xe, BTC is trading at 1.1 million pesos at the time of writing, down about 24% from its previous high of roughly 1.4 million pesos set in November 2021.
Source: Cointelegraph.com
