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First Mover Americas: VanEck’s ETF Volume Surges, Fairshake Raises Another $5M
The latest price moves in crypto markets in context for Feb. 21, 2024.
Updated Mar 9, 2024, 5:52 a.m. Published Feb 21, 2024, 1:40 p.m.
This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter, putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.
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Trading volumes of VanEck’s HODL, one of the 10 spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S., surged over 2,200% on Tuesday in a move driven by individual traders. More than $400 million of HODL changed hands on Tuesday, compared with its daily average of $17 million. The figures came a day ahead of VanEck's planned fee cut to 0.20% from 0.25%. HODL’s volumes were the third-largest after Grayscale’s GBTC and BlockRock’s IBIT, the usual leaders. The ETF held nearly $200 million worth of bitcoin as of Feb. 20, data shows.
Billionaire Mike Novogratz's Galaxy Digital (GLXY) has new coverage at Canaccord Genuity, which initiated the stock with a buy rating and a C$17 ($12.6) price target. Galaxy “represents one of the most diversified ways to play digital assets," wrote analyst Joseph Vafi, whose price target suggests 30% upside from the current C$13. Galaxy's institutional trading business is a "share gainer,” said Vafi, citing the upcoming launch of its crypto prime brokerage platform, Galaxy One. Combine that with the price gains surrounding the spot ETFs and the upcoming halving and trading should do well, according to Vafi.
Fairshake, a super political action committee (PAC) backing crypto-friendly candidates, has now received funding of a total of $4.9 million from billionaire twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Bloomberg reported, citing the latest federal filings. The twins, who are co-founders of crypto exchange Gemini and heavyweight bitcoin investors, were initial investors in Fairshake, revealed in the first announcement on Dec. 18, 2023. They join a list of high-profile crypto investors backing the super PAC, including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and ARK Invest as well as crypto companies such as Circle, Ripple, Coinbase (COIN) and others.
Chart of the Day
- The chart shows the average trade size in the bitcoin market in U.S. dollar terms since February 2023.
- The average trade size has consistently topped the $1,000 mark since the start of this month, indicating increased institutional participation.
- Source: Kaiko
- Omkar Godbole
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Strategy shares register first six-month losing streak since adoption of bitcoin strategy in 2020
Crypto analyst Chris Millas has highlighted an unusually persistent slump in Strategy shares, breaking with past drawdown patterns even as the firm continued accumulating bitcoin.
What to know:
- Strategy shares fell in each of the final six months of 2025, marking the first time since the firm adopted bitcoin in August 2020 as a treasury reserve asset.
- The decline stands out for its persistence, as past selloffs were often followed by sharp rebounds.
- The stock sharply underperformed both bitcoin and the Nasdaq 100 despite the firm's continued BTC purchases.
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