Aoyon Ashraf

Aoyon Ashraf is CoinDesk's managing editor for Breaking News. He spent almost a decade at Bloomberg covering equities, commodities and tech. Prior to that, he spent several years on the sellside, financing small-cap companies. Aoyon graduated from University of Toronto with a degree in mining engineering. He holds ETH and BTC, as well as ALGO, ADA, SOL, OP and some other altcoins which are below CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000.

Aoyon Ashraf

Latest from Aoyon Ashraf


Finance

Cboe Says Bitcoin ETFs to Start Trading Thursday, Though the SEC Hasn't Approved Them Yet

The exchange's website listed six bitcoin ETF applicants to start trading tomorrow.

Cboe (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Finance

Tokenized Treasuries’ Surging Demand Prompts Yield-Bearing Offering by Enigma Securities

U.S. Treasuries are a gateway for tokenization efforts, and has grown to a $850 million market from $100 million over the past year, rwa.xyz data shows.

a hundred dollar bill

Tech

Bitcoin ETF Chaos Memorialized on Blockchain, With Nod to 'Chancellor on the Brink' Reference

Jokester pays $2.97 to record the one-liner "SEC Chairman on the brink of second ETF approval" on the blockchain.

Screen grab from Bitcoin transaction showing the line embedded using the OP_RETURN function, "SEC Chairman on the brink of second ETF approval." (Mempool.space)

Markets

Bitcoin Jumps, Then Dumps to $45K as Fake News About Spot Bitcoin Approval Liquidates $50M

The immediate price reaction showed that bitcoin's price might be capped if a real approval arrives, one analyst noted.

Bitcoin price (TradingView/CoinDesk))

Markets

Spot Bitcoin ETF Approval Will Trigger 'Selling Pressure' on CME Futures Market: K33

Bitcoin futures' open interest on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange surged to an all-time high Tuesday as institutions piled into the asset, speculating on a spot bitcoin ETF approval.

CME bitcoin futures open interest in USD value (CoinGlass)

Tech

Bitcoin Developer's Proposal to Stop 'Spam' NFTs Gets Shut Down

Luke Dashjr's technical proposal sounded innocuous enough: to make the popular Bitcoin Core software "effective with newer datacarrying styles." In reality, the effort represented a sophisticated but controversial plan to block the suddenly popular "inscriptions" known as "NFTs on Bitcoin."

Image of some of Luke Dashjr's proposed code changes, from pull request #28408. (GitHub, modified by CoinDesk)

Markets

Mysterious $1.2M Bitcoin Transaction to Satoshi Nakamoto Sparks Speculations

The wallet receiving the hefty payout is the address that mined the Bitcoin network's first-ever block reward some 15 years ago, commencing the start of the blockchain.

Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin white paper on Halloween Day in 2008. (Jonathan Borba/Unsplash, modified by CoinDesk)

Policy

Crypto Exchange Upbit Gets Full Licensing in Singapore

Upbit said it is "poised to expand [its] range of offerings," having acquired a MPI license.

Singapore, view of Marina Bay with Gardens By The Bay manmade trees in the background (SoleneC1/Pixabay)

Finance

In Bitcoin ETF Battle, Grayscale Is Bringing 'a Gun to a Knife Fight'

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust's (GBTC) $27 billion of bitcoin and $350 million of daily volume gives Grayscale an advantage versus BlackRock and other wannabe rivals, according to Bloomberg's Eric Balchunas.

Michael Sonnenshein (CoinDesk)

Finance

BlackRock, Valkyrie Name Authorized Participants Including JPMorgan for Bitcoin ETF

BlackRock will use J.P. Morgan and Jane Street as their authorized participants. Valkyrie has also named Jane Street in addition to Cantor Fitzgerald.

BlackRock HQ