Cryptocurrency News Update: Bitcoin bulls clear another barrier amid inflow of institutional money

Here's what you need to know on Monday

Markets:

BTC/USD hit the intraday high at $9,549 during early Asian hours and retreated to $9,500 by press time. The first digital coin has gained 1.6% on a day-to-day basis and barely changed since the start of the day, moving within a short-term bearish trend amid shrinking volatility.

At the time of writing, ETH/USD is changing hands at $262.90. The price touched the intraday high of $266.49 during early Asian hours but failed to hold the ground. ETH/USD has gained over 7% in the recent 24 hours and stayed unchanged since the start of the day. The coin is moving within a short-term bullish trend amid shrinking volatility.

XRP/USD is changing hands at $0.2057. The price settles above $0.2000 and hit the intraday high of $0.2057 on Thursday. The coin is moving within the short-term bearish trend amid low volatility.

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, Reserve Rights (RSR) $0.0121 (+11.7%), DigiByte (DGB) $0.0229 (+9.5%), Elrond (LUNA) $0.3878 (+8.6%) are the most successful. The day's losers are Ampleforth (AMPL) $1.85 (-26.9%), iExec RLC (RLC) $1.29 (-9.4%), Velas (VLX) $0.0633 (-8.5%)

Chart of the day:
ETH/USD, 30-min chart

Market

Bitcoin futures open interest has grown by 16% to nearly $450 million on the Chicago-based CME, according to the statistical data provided by Skew. The recovery from July's low may signal the inflow of institutional money in Bitcoin after a prolonged period of inactivity. Open interest (OI) hit an all-time high above $500 million in May as the market recovered from a sharp collapse in March. However, low volatility and decreasing trading volumes in led to OI decline on July.

Industry

Visa outlined its cryptocurrency-related strategy in a recent blog post. The payment giant strives to preserve its leading role as a global innovation leader and plans to develop a partnership relationship with cryptocurrency companies. 

Visa outlined key values that would shape its cryptocurrency approach. Namely, the company emphasized the importance of security and customer data privacy. Also, the company plan to stay agnostic currency- and network-agnostic to support the digital currencies and blockchain networks that the clients and partners demand.

The UK-based cryptocurrency hedge-fund  Prime Factor Capital closed its doors due to the lack of investors' interest. The Fund was launched in 2018 by former BlackRock executives and obtained regulatory approval in 2019. However, the founders are in the process of liquidation, the Financial News reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

We can confirm that the fund, despite having delivered an average monthly performance in excess of 4%, is being wound down due to insufficient demand from institutional investors, said Nic Niedermowwe, Prime Factor’s chief executive.

Regulation

According to Senior Deputy Comptroller and Senior Counsel, Jonathan Gould from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), nationally chartered banks are allowed to provide custody services for digital assets. Namely, they can hold private keys for a cryptocurrency wallet. This move makes an important development for the industry as it means that national banks will be able to hold cryptocurrencies for their customers. 

Providing custody for cryptocurrencies would differ in several respects from other custody activities,” OCC explains in the letter. “The OCC recognizes that, as the financial markets become increasingly technological, there will likely be an increasing need for banks and other service providers to leverage new technology and innovative ways to provide traditional services on behalf of customers.