First Mover Americas: All Eyes on Ether

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Bitcoin’s


(BTC)

recent
rally
has
been


driven

by
the


spectacular
introduction

of
exchange-traded
funds
(ETF).
It
may
now
be
time
to
focus
on
ether


(ETH),
the
second-largest
cryptocurrency,
broker
Bernstein
said
in
a
research
report
on
Monday.
Ether
is
“probably
the
only
other
digital
asset
likely
to
get
a
spot
ETF
approval
by
the
SEC,”
the
report
said.
Bernstein
says
there
is
about
a
50%
chance
of
ether
spot
ETF
approval
by
May
and
near-certain
probability
of
approval
in
the
next
12
months.
Ether
rose
over
3%
on
Monday,
while
bitcoin
gained
just
over
1%.
Ether
has

outpaced
bitcoin
over
the
past
week,
gaining
over
16%
in
seven
days
to
trade
above
$2,900
for
the
first
time
in
nearly
two
years
while
the
bitcoin
price
rose
a
more
sedate
8.5%
to
$52,300.

Japan’s
cabinet
approved
a
bill
that
adds
crypto
to
the
list
of
assets
the
nation’s
investment
funds
and
venture
capital
firms
can
acquire,


the
Ministry
of
Economy,
Trade
and
Industry
said
Friday.
Japan
has
been
a
global
leader
in
framing
a

regulatory
framework
for
stablecoins,
and
has
indicated

plans
to
promote
Web3
while
remaining
tough
on
user
protection.
In
September
2023,
Nikkei

reported
that
the
country
planned
to
relax
rules
for
VC
firms
to
invest
in
crypto
startups.
Now
the
cabinet
has
approved
the
move,
the
amended
bill
will
be
introduced
and
debated
in
the
current
session
of
parliament,
the
Diet.

Layer-1
blockchain
Sui
has
experienced
a
sharp


increase

in
inflows
this
month,
a
spike
that
has
seen
it
overtake
Cardano,
Near
and
Aptos
in
terms
of
total
value
locked
(TVL).
The
network,
which
was
built
by
former
Meta
(META)
employees,
now
has
over
$593
million
in
capital
locked
across
various
decentralized
finance
(DeFI)
protocols,
more
than
double
its
total
at
the
turn
of
the
year
when
it
had
$211
million,
DefiLlama
data
shows.
Data
published
by

wormholescan.io,
which
tracks
the
flow
of
funds
through
the
cross-chain
bridge
Wormhole,
shows
that
$310
million
had
been
bridged
to
Sui
from
Ethereum
in
the
past
30
days.

–
Omkar
Godbole