Bitcoin Braces for Grayscale Release And South Korean Banks Continue Crypto Embrace

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As Bitcoin continues its boring summer range between $30k and $34k, attention turns to the upcoming release of locked shares (16,240) in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, also known as GBTC. On 17 July, early investors in the company (which back in 2020 was one of the only ways institutions could get their hands on Bitcoin directly) will be able to sell their shares, as Grayscale required them to hold their shares for six months before selling them on the secondary market.

In all, it could mean that some 40,000 Bitcoins could be sold at once.

Strategists from JPMorgan believe that:

Selling of GBTC shares exiting the six-month lockup period during June and July has emerged as an additional headwind for bitcoin. Despite some improvement, our signals remain overall bearish.

ALERT: Grayscale #Bitcoin Fund (GBTC) is due to release 40,000 $BTC in the coming weeks

— Market Meditations (@MrktMeditations) July 12, 2021

Analysts for crypto firm Kraken do not agree, saying:

Market structure suggests that the unlock will not weigh materially on BTC spot markets anytime soon, if at all, like some have claimed.

BREAKING NEWS:

-EIP 1559 IS ALREADY PRICED INTO ETHEREUM.

• GRAYSCALE RELEASE IS ALREADY PRICED INTO BITCOIN.

— Ran Neuner (@cryptomanran) July 10, 2021

Analyst Ran Neuer (also known as cryptomanran), seems to agree with Kraken, stating:

Grayscale release is already priced into Bitcoin.

Whoever is right, another big date looms for Bitcoin at the end of this week.

South Korean Banks Continue Crypto Embrace

South Korean banks are normally disallowed to directly enter into digital asset custody, aka letting customers hold Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets.

However, if you enter into a joint-venture with a crypto exchange, you can at least offer your customers who want to get into crypto investment some sort of service. For this reason exactly, Woori Financial Group, one of South Korea’s largest banking companies, is now setting up a custody joint venture with Coinplug, a Bitcoin exchanges in South Korea and a blockchain financial services provider.

JUST IN: Woori Financial Group, South Korea’s fourth largest bank to offer crypto custody services via a joint venture with blockchain solutions provider Coinplug pic.twitter.com/iMpn5F0K63

— Bloqport (@Bloqport) July 11, 2021

Local banks KB Kookmin and Nonghyup Bank have entered into similar legal agreements with other crypto companies in the past few months.

EdZbarzhyvetsky / Depositphotos.com