There are several conflicting reports in the crypto world as of late. Despite the idea that bitcoin is surging like mad and is on the verge of once again striking the $11,000 range, it looks like things are very up and down otherwise for both miners and institutions.
The Bitcoin Market Is Straddled with Ups and Downs
Recently, Live Bitcoin News reported that Bit Farms, a cryptocurrency mining firm, is straddled with heavy debt and is struggling to repay the $20 million+ it owes by the time 2021 rolls in. This is a lot of money in a relatively short period. The company says it has been hit hard over the past few months given that mining is widely considered a non-essential business, and thus it has dealt with heavy blows to its revenue and income.
By contrast, Canaan Creative is the second-largest mining company in China after Bitmain. Reports have emerged that its stock shares are growing in price, and while shares are only up about three percent at the time of writing, they’ve been up as high as 14 percent in the last few days.
This can likely be attested to Canaan’s size. Given that it’s one of the largest crypto mining platforms and sellers of mining equipment in the world, Canaan is going to maintain interest from traders and stockbrokers everywhere, but what can be said about the institutional platforms that appear to be undergoing the same inconsistencies?
For example, we have recently explained that virtually nobody has traded bitcoin options via the Bakkt platform since mid-June. The company has been doing very poorly as of late, and it can be argued that Bakkt has been nothing but a total failure since it first came to fruition roughly one year ago. Since the day it came on the scene, bitcoin has suffered, and the institutional presence it was slated to attract has not materialized.
On the other hand, you have companies like CME Group in Chicago, which have ultimately brought on many new clients and seen trading surge over the past few weeks. At the time of writing, open interest on the company’s platform has hit an all-time high and exceeded $720 million. The previous record was just over $530 million last May, meaning trades have jumped by roughly $200 million in just the last two months alone.
Options High, Volume Low
Where things seem to make a little more sense is in the category of volume. As it stands, volume with CME Group is low, with only about $276 million in bitcoin futures trades accumulating throughout the month. This is about $9 million less than where figures stood in June.
Still, however, this is quite high compared to the lowly $114 million in bitcoin futures trades that accumulated on the Bakkt platform just yesterday afternoon.
