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Bitcoin Rises After SEC Says It Will Launch a Crypto “Task Force“

President Donald Trump’s first day in office may have left crypto bills feeling underwhelmed. But the second day is giving reason to cheer.

Securities and Exchange Commission acting chairman Mark Uyeda on Tuesday said the agency would launch a “crypto task force” to develop a regulatory framework for digital assets. The group will give paths to registration for crypto products, create disclosure requirements, and “deploy enforcement resources judiciously,” the SEC said.

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, one of the industry’s biggest defenders at the agency, will lead the task force, the agency said.

Bitcoin and other digital assets started Tuesday lower after Trump’s first day in office failed to include any actions on cryptocurrencies. As of Wednesday morning, however, Bitcoin was up about 2% in the past 24 hours to about $106,000, near its record high.

MicroStrategy Share Increase Approved to Fund Bitcoin Purchases

MicroStrategy Inc. shareholders voted for a 30 times increase to the number of authorized Class A common shares to help finance the company’s Bitcoin buying.

The enterprise software company turned leveraged Bitcoin proxy will increase its authorized Class A shares from 330 million to 10.3 billion as Chairman and co-founder Michael Saylor aims to increase the firm’s Bitcoin holdings. The vote was approved Tuesday, according to a recording of the shareholder meeting.

The share increase would give MicroStrategy the potential to have more shares outstanding than all but four of the five largest members of the Nasdaq 100 Index — Nvidia Corp., Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

MicroStrategy Buys 11,000 Bitcoin for $1.1 Billion, Boosting Holdings to 461,000 BTC

MicroStrategy said Tuesday it had acquired 11,000 Bitcoin worth $1.1 billion between January 13 and 20, executing the purchase at an average price of $101,191 per coin. The move marks the company’s eleventh week in a row of Bitcoin acquisitions.

The latest addition brings MicroStrategy’s total Bitcoin holdings to 461,000 BTC, valued at $48 billion at current market prices. The company has invested approximately $29 billion in its Bitcoin holdings at an average price of $63,610.

Trump Pardons Former Silk Road Founder and Bitcoin Icon Ross Ulbricht

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison for running an underground online marketplace where drug dealers and others conducted over $200 million in illicit trade using bitcoin.

The Republican president made good on a campaign pledge to free Ulbricht, 40, who was arrested in 2013 and sentenced in 2015 in what became a landmark U.S. prosecution launched only a few years after the emergence of the popular cryptocurrency.

Trump's administration is expected to significantly reverse course on what had been a crackdown by regulators on the cryptocurrency sector during Democratic former President Joe Biden's tenure.

Coinbase Would Delist Stablecoin Tether if Required by Law, CEO Says

Coinbase Global would remove stablecoin tether from its U.S. cryptocurrency trading platform if required by new legislation, CEO Brian Armstrong said in an interview at the Journal House in Davos, Switzerland.

Tether, which is pegged 1:1 to the dollar, is the world’s most traded cryptocurrency, but authorities are scrutinizing its use by a plethora of crime groups, sanctions evaders and terrorist organizations to move money around the globe unhindered.

If tether's issuer, also called Tether, couldn’t comply with any new U.S. laws, Coinbase would delist it, Armstrong said. He said Coinbase would like to continue to offer tether to give customers a way to shift their holdings into other cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin Spot ETF Flow

The overall net outflow of the US Bitcoin spot ETF on Tuesday was $802.5 million. The total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs is $123.59 billion, and the ETF net asset ratio (market value compared to total Bitcoin market value) is 5.88%.

Source: SoSoValue

The Bitcoin spot ETF with the highest net inflow on January 21 was iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), with a net inflow of $661.86 million. Following that was Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC), with a net inflow of 136.39 million, according to SoSoValue.

Source: SoSoValue