Cryptocurrencies benefit from avoiding a US government shutdown

Bitcoin rose at the end of the week after the U.S. Congress struck a deal to prevent a government shutdown. BTC has had a good week, starting below $26 but rising steadily to nearly $000 late yesterday evening on the eToro platform, gaining 28%. within seven days.

Ethereum saw similar activity during the week, which started around $1 but rose to above $550 - an increase of 1%. on a week to week basis.

Markets appear to have responded positively to the avoidance of a US government shutdown, although this is a temporary relief. We can expect some potential news this week for markets to process as Fed Chair Jerome Powell takes the floor today, OPEC meets on Wednesday, and US employment data comes out on Friday.

Fed and oil prices have consistently been strong macro drivers of the cryptocurrency market over the past few years. In the late stage of the interest rate cycle we are in, the market is looking for further good news, but with oil prices rising again this could have a cooling effect on sentiment.

Valkyrie will start adding Ethereum to ETFs

Asset manager Valkyrie will launch tomorrow adding contracts ethereum futures to its Bitcoin Strategy ETF upon regulatory approval. The ETF will now combine its bitcoin and ethereum futures portfolios into a single strategy and is the first to receive approval to do so.

However, it also highlights the growing sophistication of these institutional offerings and the desire to begin diversifying their investment strategies. Diversification is a really important tool for investors who want to take advantage of market opportunities while preventing their portfolios from being overly concentrated in one area. Asset managers in the cryptocurrency space are now responding to this desire.

Ethereum founder considers changes to the blockchain

Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin, published a blog considering potential changes to the way the ethereum blockchain operates.

In the post, he discusses the need to simplify the underlying blockchain code to avoid "bloat" and highlights concerns about the concentration of liquid staking. Smooth staking has been one of the biggest growth areas for the ethereum blockchain over the past few years, especially with development milestones like The Merge.

However, the market is highly concentrated on a few providers, which is what Buterin focuses on in his argument for blockchain reform to reduce centralization and promote greater competition. His conclusion is that the underlying protocols may need to be updated to improve the platform - something that could ultimately have a broad impact on blockchain and its related cryptocurrencies.

VanEck will donate 10 percent. profits from ethereum

Asset manager VanEck said it would donate 10%. profits from the newly launched Ethereum ETF fund for the further development of the blockchain.

Ethereum-focused ETF The company is expected to launch soon after registering to trade futures on commodity exchanges and will sit alongside a similar bitcoin ETF strategy.

The company has also filed an application for a spot-priced ETF, one of many, but for now, their approval is pending regulatory approval - something the market continues to eagerly await.