Weekend Wrap: Bitcoin Hilton opens next year, BlackRock ETF 3 days of nil and more

The 80-room Hampton by Hilton hotel in El Salvador — funded with Bitcoin layer-2 tokenized bonds — will be fully operational by mid-2025.

Bitcoin-tokenized Hilton hotel to complete in 10 months

El Salvador’s planned 4,500-square-foot Hampton by Hilton hotel — which will be funded by the country’s first — is set to be completed within 10 months and be fully operational before July 2025.

“The construction should be completed within approximately 10-11 months and another four to six weeks [after that] for opening operations, training our staff,” said Roberto Laguardia, the CEO of property development firm Inverlag in an April 26 AMA with Jesse Knutson, head of operations at Bitfinex Securities.

“We should be fully operational by July 2025,” he explained.

AMA with CEO of Inverlag, launching the first tokenized bond to build an hotel at El Salvador International Airport https://t.co/Lor9rUJjeJ

— Bitfinex Securities (@BFXSecurities) April 26, 2024

Bitfinex Securities — the only licensed and registered digital asset provider in El Salvador — will facilitate the tokenization process on the Bitcoin layer-2 Liquid Network. Investors will need to make a minimum $1,000 investment to purchase the token under the ticker HILSV.

Debt will be issued from Inversiones Laguardia, which is looking to raise $6.25 million from crowd funders in exchange for a 10% coupon over a five-year term.

The hotel will be constructed at El Salvador’s international airport, which will have five levels, 80 rooms, five commercial spaces and other hotel amenities, including a swimming pool, restaurants, a gym, gardens and multipurpose rooms.

Related: El Salvador: Hackers leak code of state Bitcoin wallet

Laguardia said it will be the first hotel at El Salvador’s international airport.

He’s confident the rooms will fill up close to full capacity most nights as the closest hotel to the airport currently has an occupancy rate of 95%.

The project had been on Iverlag’s horizon for some time, but obtaining capital was proving to be a tough task until Laguardia’s attention was drawn to this Bitcoin-based crowdfunding solution.

Ethereum whale wallet moves $6.6M after 8 years of dormancy

An Ethereum whalewallet reportedly linked to the Ethereum Foundation has woken up after an eight-and-a-half year-long hiatus, transferring 2,000 Ether (ETH), worth $6.6 million to a new address.

The wallet — with address “0x2FE…B18Cc” — received 2,000 ETH on Sept. 22, 2015, when ETH was less than a dollar at $0.9, noted blockchain analytics firm Lookchainchain, which claims the wallet is linked to the Ethereum Foundation.

It was the 3404th richest Ethereum address, according to Private Keys.

The transaction occurred at 11:46 am UTC on April 28, according to Etherscan, which shows the receiving wallet was empty prior to the transfer.

The 2,000 ETH is now priced at $6.65 million — meaning the Ethereum whale had made an on-paper gain of 369,344%.

It comes as the United States securities regulator must make a decision on whether to approve some or all of the spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund applications on May 23.

ETH’s status as a non-security also remains under threat, which prompted Ethereum infrastructure firm Consensys to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission on April 25, claiming the regulator possesses no legal authority over ETH.

The Ethereum Foundation was formed on July 6, 2014, in Zug, Switzerland.

Cointelegraph reached out to the Ethereum Foundation but didn’t receive an immediate response.

ETH is currently priced at $3,275, increasing 4.55% over the weekend, according to CoinGecko.

BlackRock records ‘0’ flow for 3rd consecutive trading day

BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund recorded its third consecutive day without flows on April 26, prompting traders to ponder whether interest in Bitcoin investment products is beginning to wane.

The BlackRock Bitcoin Trust’s (IBIT) three days of ‘0’ flow followed a 71 day streak in inflows prior to April 24, according to London-based investment manager Farside Investors.

Digital asset trader Jordan Lindsey was one of many pundits who felt concerned with IBIT’s fall in flows.

However, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffar previously said it is common for ETFs to record 0 inflows in an earlier April 17 X post.

“There are ~3,500 ETFs in the US. Yesterday 2,903 of them had a flow of exactly zero,” Seyffart explained at the time.

Zero flows result when there is no notable difference between the supply and demand for an ETF — therefore, it isn’t necessary for the ETF issuer to create or redeem new shares.

Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTSCO), Franklin Bitcoin ETF (EZBC), Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund (BRRR) and the VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL) were among the other spot Bitcoin ETFs that recorded zero flows on April 26, while ARK 21Shares’ Bitcoin ETF was the only one to record inflows at $5.4 million.

Immutable launches $50M Web3 games reward program

Immutable, the firm behind GameFi-focused Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Immutable X, has launched “The Main Quest” — a Web3 games reward program that will offer gamers up to $50 million in token rewards.

“Starting today, players can get rewards immediately by exploring quests, playing games and owning collections on Immutable,” the firm said in an April 25 statement.

The firm claims it is the largest Web3 games reward program ever launched.

10 GameFi projects were chosen to feature in the current phase of The Main Quest which includes Pixelmon, Illuvium, Guild of Guardians, Space Nation, MetalCore and Hunters on Chain.

“Future titles and rewards are already earmarked for the next phase of the growing program,” noted Immutable, which currently boasts more than 270 game titles under development on its blockchain.

New and existing players will either need to sign up with Immutable Passport or connect their wallets to Immutable zkEVM to receive rewards.

Gamers will receive rewards in the form of in-game tokens and nonfungible tokens (NFT) by completing special quests.

Other news

OpenAI, an artificial intelligence company co-founded and helmed by Sam Altman, is reportedly in partnership talks with Tools For Humanity’s Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency-based universal basic income and identity verification firm also co-founded by Sam Altman.

Prosecutors in Taiwan are recommending 20-year prison sentences for the four main suspects in the fraud and money laundering case related to the cryptocurrency trading platform Ace Exchange. Prosecutors believe 1,200 individuals were scammed, resulting in estimated total losses of $24.5 million.