Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.
Meme frenzy overwhelmed one poor developer when he accidentally burned over $10 million worth of Solana, but he wasn’t out of pocket for long. The Qatari sovereign wealth fund likely won’t invest in Bitcoin
Uncertainty in the market has had a knock-on effect on Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, which have seen net inflows drop by 80%.
Dev accidentally burns $10 million as meme frenzy takes hold
One memecoin that has grabbed the crypto community’s attention is Slerf. The creator behind the project mistakenly burnt over $10 million in Solana before the launch, however, despite that the memecoin was launched and reached $500 million market cap within hours.
The developer raised 535,000 Solana
SOL $207 tokens to launch the memecoin but accidentally burnt $10.4 million worth of Solana tokens while trying to clear their wallet.
The memecoin frenzy has led to comparisons with the Ethereum initial coin offering (ICO) era bubble of 2017 when several crypto projects raised millions of dollars but many failed to deliver.
Major Qatar investment in Bitcoin highly unlikely, local exec says
Despite ongoing rumors, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) likely has no plans to add Bitcoin to its holdings, according to a local financial executive.
Shadi Qishta, the chief financial officer of Kown Capital, was asked about the likelihood of QIA investing in Bitcoin. “I don’t think it will happen in one way or another any time soon since the QIA has a diverse investment strategy and speeding investments across various asset classes, sectors and geographies to mitigate risk and capture opportunities in different markets and industries,” he said.
“Despite the global popularity of cryptocurrencies, the adoption in Qatar is relatively low among the general public,” Qishta explained.
Rumors of Qatari interest in Bitcoin ramped up following the successful launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. These funds have attracted institutional interest, with wealth manager Cetera recently approving the inclusion of four spot BTC ETFs into clients’ portfolios.
Spot Bitcoin ETF net inflows drop as BTC price dips
United States-based spot Bitcoin
BTC $68,309 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded one of their lowest net inflow days of just $132 million on March 14 — the lowest level in the past eight trading days and an 80% fall from March 13.
The Thursday drop marked the second consecutive day of decline. On Wednesday, inflows hit $684 million, a 38.3% drop from the March 12. Tuesday saw record-breaking single-day inflows of $1.05 billion.
Bitcoin ETF flow data. Source: BitMEX
The total flow of funds into the ETFs stood at $390 million on March 14, with the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) seeing another $257 million in outflows, bringing net inflows to $132 million. On the same day, the VanEck Bitcoin Trust ETF and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund recorded inflows of $13.8 million and $13.7 million, respectively. Despite a significant outflow from GBTC, net flows remained positive on Thursday.
Market pundits suspect the current market volatility, regulatory uncertainties and macroeconomic factors have made investors cautious. The current decline is also attributed to next week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which could shed some light on the Federal Reserve’s plans for interest rates in the future.
