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Galaxy Digital Capital yesterday launched two Bitcoin funds: the Galaxy Bitcoin Fund and the Galaxy Institutional Bitcoin fund. Mike Novogratz, CEO and Founder of Galaxy Digital told Bloomberg the funds are targeting the wealth of Americathose aged between 50 and 80 who have so far been hesitant to invest in cryptocurrencies.

Novogratz said the new funds capitalize on Bitcoins popularity, which has drawn in high-net-worth individuals to the crypto space. There are probably 20 billionaires I could name that made their money outside of crypto and are in crypto now.

The next wave will come from the wealth advisers, maybe with endowments and small foundations participating, he added.

The Galaxy Bitcoin Fund has quarterly liquidity, and the minimum investment is $25,000. The Galaxy Institutional Bitcoin Fund has weekly liquidity, though the minimum investment is a higher, undisclosed amount.

Galaxy Digital Capital Management is a New York-based multi-service merchant bank dedicated to cryptocurrencies and blockchain. It holds over $337 million in assets, and offers two other funds: the Galaxy Crypto Index Fund, and its ecosystem funds.

"The Galaxy Bitcoin Funds help accredited investors mitigate the complexities and risks of managing direct bitcoin investments, said Galaxy Digitals Steve Kurz, Head of Asset Management in a press statement. Kurz will manage the funds with Galaxys portfolio manager, Paul Cappelli. Kurz told Bloomberg the new funds have been seeded with Galaxys own funds, as well as funds from its existing investors.

Is Galaxy Digital lost in its own crypto bubble? It's absolutely not madness, Eric Wall, Head of Research at crypto investment fund Arcane, tells Decrypt. The bitcoin is digital gold narrative is perhaps the greatest bitcoin story of all time for adoption. It is something people can both understand and tickles their fear of missing out, he says.

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Wall points to Bitcoins growth over the past decadethe nascent cryptocurrency worlds longest and most revered heritage. At some point people get tired of feeling like they're not getting it; that makes them more open to accept narratives that would have seemed like science fiction a few years ago, he says.

The fund aims to undercut rivals like Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. GBTC indeed has quite high fees in a market where the profit margins for third party storage services have shrunk considerably, says Wall. It is possible to do what Grayscale is doing for cheaper, and still earn a profit. This is just a healthy market in action.

Bakkt, the Intercontinental Exchanges crypto assets platform, as well as Fidelity Digital Assets, will assume custody of the funds. Bloomberg L.P., which previously partnered with Galaxy for its Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index, will act as pricing agent.

"As institutions and sophisticated investors seek exposure to digital assets through new investment products, they are seeking the highest standards in asset security, said Kelly Loeffler, CEO of Bakkt.

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Galaxy Digital Capital launches two new Bitcoin funds to court the wealth of America - Decrypt

Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup invented the language C++ in 1985. Even now, 34 years on, it remains the one of the most commonly used codes woven into systems throughout the world.However, Stroustrup now says his one overwhelming regret over the last four decades is that his work went on to become the code upon which bitcoin is based. When you build a tool, you do not know how it is going to be used, he lamented.

Im very happy and proud of some of the things C++ is being used for and there are some other things I wish people wouldnt do.

Bitcoin mining is my favourite example it uses as much energy as Switzerland and mostly serves criminals.

The 68-year-old a managing director at Morgan Stanley in New York has spoken before about his dislike of cryptocurrency, but this is the first time hes expressed remorse over his code being used in the creation of BTC.

Speaking on the highly popular Lex Fridman podcast, the University of Cambridge graduate enthused over the great achievements made with computer science, but he turned his ire upon bitcoin when he discussed regrets, highlighting concern over environmental issues and criminality.

Almost half of all bitcoin transactions have, according to some studies, connections to criminal activities. It has also been suggested that almost a quarter of BTC users are also involved in illegal activity to the tune of $72 billion a year.

Bitcoin also attracts criticism for its negative environmental impact, using up a mind-boggling seven gigawatts of electricity a year and accounting for 0.21 percent of the worlds supplies.

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BITCOIN: Cryptocurrency is for criminals, says inventor of worlds leading computer code - Express

As a novice Bitcoin trader, it may seem logical to think that long and short trades are pretty much equivalent. You decide if you think price is going up or down, and long or short it accordingly, right?

But that ignores the asymmetrical nature of the two options, as Scott Melker, a trader at TxWestCapital tweeted yesterday. Even a short from all-time high to bottom was less profitable than a long from that bottom back up to $6.5k.

And of course, even that isnt the whole story.

The first thing to consider is that short and long trades are not equal in every respect.For simplicity, lets look at a starting bitcoin price of $5k.

Now sure, you can choose to either short or long that price, and if the price goes down (or up), say $500, then you get a tidy 10% dollar profit, on either option.

But you arent content with 10%. You want to double your money, which means if you are shorting, Bitcoin price needs to drop to zero, and at that point you hit a limit. If you are going long, however, then price has to rise to $10k, from which point it can keep going and further increase returns.

This is why a short from the top of the market to the bottom (around $20k to $3200, or 84%) would have netted you less profit than a long from $3200 back to $6500 (103%). If you consider the (currently hypothetical) long from bottom back to $20k, then you are looking at 525% profit.

As pointed out in some of the replies to Melkers original tweet, however, this doesnt tell the whole story.

Whilst the dollar profit in the above example is certainly greater for the long option than the short, a successful short ends with a lower bitcoin price, hence your profit would be substantially more in terms of bitcoin. 84% of $20k would buy 5.25 bitcoin at $3200, whereas 525% of $3200 would only buy you 0.84 bitcoin at $20k.

So if you held the gains in bitcoin then the potential profit (after another swing in price) favours an initial short and thats before you even start looking at leverage.

But Melker does state that Shorting can be massively profitable when well timed and managed by a professional trader. However, for the majority of us, it is far easier to buy a dip and hold in a generally upwards trending market.

So at $8k, bitcoin has far more potential to the upside than the down.

Do you agree that Bitcoin has a better upside potential at $8,000? Add your thoughts below!

Images via Shutterstock

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Bitcoin Upside Potential At $8k Is Far Greater Than the Down - Bitcoinist

A merger agreement between Northern Bitcoin (BTC) and Whinstone US Inc. could set the stage for the largest BTC mining facility in the world.

Northern Bitcoin, a German company that focuses on BTC blockchain technology, announced the merger via press release on Monday. The deal that involves their American competitor brings more experience and resources since the Whinstone Group has been in the blockchain industry in as early as 2014 with a successful track record in operating mining facilities in the Netherlands, Sweden and the U.S.

The mining farm that the merger was based off on is already being built by Whinstone, and it boasts a capacity of one gigawatt on an area over 100 acres in Texas.

Cryptocurrency market downfall has resulted in several miners selling their equipment at significantly low prices as they are facing huge losses. Here, two construction workers inspect the area at the bitcoin mining company Bifarms in Saint Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada, March 19, 2018. Photo: LARS HAGBERG/AFP/Getty Images

"With this merger, we are catapulting ourselves faster than originally planned to the top of the world in Bitcoin mining. Whinstone's team has done a great job over the past few years and is proving its leadership in the blockchain industry by building the world's largest mining facility," said Mathis Schultz, CEO of Northern Bitcoin AG.

"Together, we have a dominant leadership position in this fast-growing industry and are well-positioned to benefit significantly from the future development of blockchain technology," he added.

The two companies expect the first phase of the construction to be completed in the first quarter of 2020. By then, they anticipate it to house 300 megawatts of capacity, which they estimate will rank them number one in the world.They expect to be at full capacity by Q4 of 2020.

Competition

Northern Bitcoin was founded in 2018 as a sustainable BTC miner as its mining operations in Norway rely on renewable energy sources, and along with Whinstone, they are up againsttwo other companies that are constructing mining farms in Texas.

Last month, startup company Layer 1 received $50 million from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Shasta Ventures, and other investors to establish their mining farm that is located 150 miles west of Midland Texas.

Following the announcement of Layer 1, China'sBitmain also set its agenda for establishing a BTC mining facility in rural Texas just a few days after.Bitmain's power size will be at 25 to 50 megawatts that could go up to 300 to what it termed as the largest in the world -- a far cry now from what Whinstone and Norther Bitcoin targets.

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Bitcoin Mining Firms Whinstone, Northern Bitcoin Merger Announced; Creates World's Biggest Mining Farm - International Business Times