Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin ETFs Show Steady Demand as BTC Hits New YTD High: Bitfinex

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen steady inflows in the past week, surpassing any other exchange-traded products (ETPs) among the 3,400 trading in the United States.
Analysts at crypto exchange Bitfinex revealed in the new Bitfinex Alpha report that the ETFs recorded net positive inflows exceeding $2.2 billion for the second consecutive week between February 12 and 16. The inflows partially fueled BTC’s recovery after its brief fall post-Consumer Price Index (CPI) data release.
Bitcoin ETFs Show Constant BTC Demand
Most of the inflows were directed toward BlackRock’s IBIT ETF, which gathered $1.6 billion. The fund alone has accrued $5.2 billion year-to-date (YTD), accounting for approximately 50% of the asset manager’s total net inflows across all their ETFs.
Fidelity’s FBTC saw the second-highest numbers, attracting $648.5 million last week. The fund was followed by Ark Invest/21Shares’ ARKB and Bitwise’s BITB, which amassed $405 million and $232.1 million, respectively.
On the other hand, outflows from Grayscale’s GBTC have persisted, with investors withdrawing $624 million in the past week. Bitfinex said the ETF has witnessed capital depletion surpassing $7 billion since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved its conversion from an over-the-counter product to an ETP in January.
BTC Reaches New YTD High
The constant flows into spot Bitcoin ETFs come as BTC set a new YTD high, reaching $52,900 for the first time since December 2021. Analysts said only 114 days in 2021 recorded a daily closing price above the new level, representing 2.29% of BTC’s entire trading history.
Bitcoin’s ascent to almost $53,000 represents a 25% increase since the start of the year. The asset has reached the same level that provided support in November 2021 before an ecosystem collapse led the market into the 2022 bear season.
In the past year, BTC has witnessed a 130% increase and a growth of 207% since its November 2022 lows. The leading digital currency currently trades 25% shy of its all-time high of $69,000.
Meanwhile, the increase in BTC’s value has transitioned a majority of its supply into profit, diminishing the percentage still held at a loss. At writing time, only 11% of the total BTC supply, purchased above $50,000, was held at a loss.
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Cryptocurrency
Forget 1%, 3%, or 5%: Financial Advisor Recommends Up to 40% Bitcoin Allocation

Bitcoin’s evolution has been quite spectacular, especially in terms of global adoption. Recall that the asset was mostly ignored by legacy investors for its initial years, then became the laughing stock of many, before it finally started to capture the attention of previous doubters.
As prominent names like Paul Tudor Jones III, Kevin O’Leary, or even former critic Ray Dalio started to enter the ecosystem, their general advice was that people should look to invest no more than 5% in the cryptocurrency. However, the adoption curve has completed a 180-degree turn, and some financial advisors are now recommending bigger percentages. A lot bigger.
40% in BTC?
As reported by CNBC, Ric Edelman, head of Digital Assets Council of Financial Advisors, noted that a lot has changed since his initial take on the matter, which was four years ago. At the time, he advised investors, especially the more conservative ones, to allocate around 1% of their portfolios to BTC.
“Today I am saying 40%, that’s astonishing. No one has ever said such a thing,” he said now.
The reason for this monumental increase in his recommendation is the global status of Bitcoin (and some other cryptocurrencies). Most were ridiculed several years ago when it was unknown whether countries, such as China, or even the US, might move to ban them in some form. Now, the situation is entirely different as the US and a few others have presented plans on how to accumulate BTC as a reserve asset.
Old-School 60/40 Doesn’t Work
One of the most popular theories for investing is allocating 60% of a portfolio into stocks and 40% into bonds. While this classic split may have worked in the past, the landscape is different now, and it requires more risk and a greater exposure to stocks, according to Edelman.
“If you’re a financial advisor and you had a 30-year-old client who was saving for their long-term future, you would tell them to put 100% of their money in stocks, because they have 50 years to go. Today’s 60-year-old is kind of like yesterday’s 30-year-old. You need to get better returns than you can get from bonds, and you need to hold equities longer than ever before.”
Instead of such solid exposure to stocks, though, he said people should diversify with crypto and BTC in particular, which is a “wonderful way to improve modern portfolio theory statistics.”
“The crypto asset class offers the opportunity for higher returns than you’re likely to get in virtually any other asset class,” Edelman concluded.
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Cryptocurrency
Israel Will Buy BTC and ETH and Give it to a Gambling Offender

Israel will buy 19.15 BTC and 83 ETH, collectively worth over $2.2 million. But if you think that this is a step toward adopting crypto or that the country is planning to establish an alternative currency reserve – well, think again.
Shai Siboni – a popular Israeli footballer, who’s also a known gambling offender – had his crypto wallet “lost” while he was detained in police custody over two years ago.
Speaking on the matter was a police official, who said:
This is a serious oversight and it is still unclear how the wallet disappeared.
So, to make up for the “oversight,” the state of Israel will purchase a brand new digital wallet, fund it with 19.15 BTC and 83 ETH, and, well, give it back to Siboni.
Siboni Turned into “an Extremely Wealthy Man”
Commenting on the matter was also a senior official, who said that “this wallet was worth about a million shekels about seven years ago. Since then, currency prices have risen dramatically, and the state will pay dearly for the negligence of an elite police unit.”
This is one of the most serious failures we’ve had, and the saddest thing – no one is taking responsibility.”
Siboni, who is a convicted gambling offender has been turned into an “extremely wealthy man,” concluded the official.
A Gambling Offender
To provide a bit of context on the profile of Siboni – he’s considered a major target when it comes to illegal gambling as part of the Lahav 433 Unit’s investiagtions.
During the two World Cups – the one in 2014 in Brazil and the one in 2018 in Russia – Siboni operated illegal betting lines for thousands of gamblers.
Suspicions place his profits to the tune of more than 100 million shekels. These were used to purchase luxury cars, apartments and other assets. The hard truth, however, is that the state had difficulty proving that the money came from criminal activity, so the majority of his property (including the crypto wallet) was returned to him.
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Cryptocurrency
Calm Before the Storm? Bitcoin Consolidates Around $107,000: Weekend Watch

The broader cryptocurrency market remains relatively calm and for the past 24 hours there haven’t been any major movements.
Bitcoin continues trading in a more or less narrow range between $106,000 and $108,000, begging the question if this is the calm before the storm and if a major move is just around the corner.
Bitcoin Price Consolidates at $107K
Bitcoin’s price didn’t go through any major moves during the past day and continues consolidating at around $107,000.
The absence of volatility is also seen in the level of liquidations, which has declined by 4% on the daily, currently standing at around $200 million, according to Coinglass. The majority of them are short positions, meaning that the bulls are defending this area successfully, at least so far.
As seen in the chart below, the price has managed to recover from the losses endured last weekend following the US strike of strategic Iranian nuclear bases.
That said, as CryptoPotato reported, the number of larger wallets, holding 10 BTC or more, hit 152,280, which is the highest since March. This signals that deep-pocketed investors show a lot of confidence and might be positioning themselves for an incoming rally.
Altcoins Trend Flat but Leaning Bullish
The majority of large-cap altcoins are trading in the green. They are not charting any significant gains, but the heatmap is obviously leaning bullish.
Notably, Ripple’s XRP is charting gains of more than 4% on the day, being the best-performing altcoin from the top 10 by means of total market capitalization.
Bitcoin’s market dominance is down by around 0.5% in the past 24 hours, which shows that the altcoins are attempting to capitalize on its flat trend. It’s interesting to see if this will continue.
The best performer today is Quant (QNT), which is up 6.5%, followed by SPX6900 and Jupiter (JUP), both of which are up by 5.3% and 4.8%, respectively.
On the other hand, Aptos, Pi Network, and SEI are today’s worst performers, down by 7.7%, 3.8%, and 3.6%.
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Cryptocurrency charts by TradingView.
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