News Roundup — Bitcoin ETFs Notch Best-Ever Week with $2.5bn Haul

Major news stories this week;

1. Bitcoin ETFs notch best-ever week with $2.5bn haul amid signs bigger players are jumping in
2. Reddit Discloses Bitcoin and Ether Holdings in IPO Filing
3. Binance says it 'accepts responsibility' for past actions as judge approves plea deal
4. South Korean ruling party pledges 2-year delay for crypto tax as elections loom
5. Circle to cease minting USDC on Tron network effective immediately

Story Summaries;

1. Bitcoin experienced a record-breaking week with $2.45 billion in inflows, the highest ever recorded. This surge followed the launch of several spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US in January. The increased trading volume, open interest, and institutional adoption have accompanied the rise in crypto prices. The majority of the inflows, attributed to the US market, went into spot Bitcoin ETFs like BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, which has seen over $6 billion in inflows since its launch.
2. Reddit said it invested part of its excess cash in bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), making the firm one of the few companies that directly purchased digital assets alongside likes of Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy and Elon Musk's Tesla.The social media platform submitted a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to go public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “RDDT.”
3. Binance Holdings Ltd. will pay one of the largest corporate penalties in U.S. history after a judge approved a plea agreement on Friday requiring the exchange to pay $4.3 billion. "Binance accepts responsibility for the company’s past actions and has already made significant progress in taking the steps required under the terms of this plea agreement," a Binance spokesperson said in a statement.
4. The South Korean ruling party, People Power Party, has pledged to delay the implementation of a crypto gains tax for two more years, citing the need to establish a regulatory framework for crypto transactions similar to the stock exchange. The party believes that taxation should only occur once this framework is in place to oversee crypto transactions effectively. The proposed tax rules would require crypto investors with gains exceeding 2.5 million won in a year to pay a 20% tax, a threshold lower than that for stocks
5. Circle, the issuer of the United States dollar-pegged stablecoin USD Coin, says it will discontinue support for the token on the Tron blockchain, saying the decision aligns with “efforts to ensure that USDC remains trusted, transparent and safe.” “Effective immediately we will no longer mint USDC on TRON,” Circle said in a Feb. 20 blog post.

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And that’s all for last week’s news! Wishing you a great week ahead!

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