First Mover Americas: The Rising Trend of Ether Trading

• Ethereum Sees Increased Interest from Traders as Bitcoin Continues Rally
• IBM Introduces Cryptographic Signing Technology for Cold Storage of Digital Assets
• BlackRock and Bitwise Amend S1 Forms Filed with the SEC
• Most Active Bitcoin Options Within the Past 24 hours
• Controversial Bitcoin Inscriptions Cause Division in BTC Community
• Cathie Wood's ARK Invest Sells $33M of Coinbase Shares
• Current Bitcoin Rally Suggests Return of FOMO and YOLO

Ethereum Sees Increased Interest from Traders as Bitcoin Continues Rally

Key metrics from the derivatives market suggest that expert traders are shifting their focus from bitcoin (BTC), which has been a market standout recently, to ether (ETH). This shift hints at a possible superior performance of Ethereum$2,315 -2.42%'s native token in the near future. Despite Bitcoin$42,260 -0.64%'s impressive rally of over 60% this quarter, ether, defined as a deflationary currency with bond-like appeal and an ESG-compliant label, has lagged significantly, gaining just 35%, according to available data.

The performance difference becomes even more pronounced over larger periods, with bitcoin reporting a 163% gain year-to-date as compared to ether's 89%.

IBM Introduces Cryptographic Signing Technology for Cold Storage of Digital Assets

In a recent announcement, tech giant IBM released a cryptographic signing technology to manage digital assets in cold storage. This innovation aims to decrease the risks linked with manual procedures while ensuring assets remain disconnected from an internet connection. The IBM Hyper Protect Offline Signing Orchestrator (OSO) adds extra security layers to high-value transactions such as disconnected network operations, time-dependent security measures, and electronic transaction approval by multiple participants.

Over the past few years, IBM has been integrating its key management expertise, particularly its confidential computing suite of technologies, with digital assets and cryptocurrencies.

BlackRock and Bitwise Amend S1 Forms Filed with the SEC

Asset management firm BlackRock and crypto investment company Bitwise submitted amended S1 forms to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, likely answering further questions posed by the regulator during earlier discussions. The exact topics that the SEC requested further information on remain unclear, but analysts had anticipated that alterations to the previous filings would occur following multiple meetings held between the SEC and applicants last week.

These filings demonstrate that both parties are working hard to iron things out, as noted by Bloomberg Intelligence's James Seyffart. He further suggested that amendments from the other 11 applicants, including Fidelity, Franklin$0.0015 -3.24% and WisdomTree, are due to be submitted in the near future.

Most Active Bitcoin Options Within the Past 24 hours

As shown in the chart of the day, the most active bitcoin options in the past 24 hours have mostly been calls. However, some traders also traded puts at strikes $41,000 and $41,500. These flows are consistent with options skew, suggesting that traders are looking to protect themselves from a possible price drop in the future.

Controversial Bitcoin Inscriptions Cause Division in BTC Community

Bitcoin inscriptions have caused division within the BTC community amidst network congestion. Supporters of these inscriptions argue that they are 'unstoppable'.

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest Sells $33M of Coinbase Shares

ARK Invest, headed by Cathie Wood, has sold $33M worth of Coinbase shares, with $5.9M of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust also being sold.

Current Bitcoin Rally Suggests Return of FOMO and YOLO

The current Bitcoin rally seems to signal the comeback of the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and YOLO (You Only Live Once) attitudes among investors.

Edited by Jonathan Stoker