Bitcoin / Crypto - Weekly Recap, Week Ahead Oct 21, 2024

Find all the charts within this video (here).

Ethena Proposes Adding $100-$200M in Solana (SOL) as Collateral for USDe

👇1-14) Ethena Labs recently launched a proposal to onboard Solana (SOL) as a backing asset for its synthetic stablecoin, USDe. The proposal suggests allocating $100 to $200 million in SOL, representing 5-10% of SOL's global open interest. This move aims to diversify the collateral base for USDe, which already includes Bitcoin and Ethereum, and enhance its overall stability through a hedging strategy. Additionally, Ethena is considering liquid staking tokens (LSTs) such as Binance's BNSOL and Bybit's bbSOL as part of this integration.

Chart 1: Ethena’s ENA surged +43% during the last two weeks

SEC Approves Physically Settled Options for BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT)

👇2-14) The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved options for trading with BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). These options will be physically settled, meaning actual Bitcoin will be delivered upon exercise. The approval includes a conservative limit of 25,000 contracts to mitigate risks and prevent market manipulation. ETF options will likely have cross-margining capabilities in multi-asset portfolios, allowing more leverage without additional collateral.