Bitcoin

Bitcoin hits 5-month low, Mt. Gox begins refunds, Circle secures MiCA license

Published

7 months ago

7 July, 2024

Today’s edition of the weekly summary: Bitcoin (BTC) drops to a five-month low amid a series of whale liquidations; Mt. Gox begins creditor payments; and Circle secures the first stablecoin license under MiCA as regulatory efforts ramp up.

Downtrend market

After a low June, reports on July 1 suggested that Bitcoin could be poised for a recovery in July. This was based on historical performance and a strong start to the month.
However, Bitcoin’s run was halted when it hit a one-week high of $63,861 on July 1. Bitfinex analysts confirmed that BTC diverged from the currently bullish US stocks as it fell below $63,000 and failed to reclaim the level.
glass knot stressed that Bitcoin was in an indecisive phase amid bearish pressure. BTC witnessed three consecutive intraday declines, falling below $59,000 on July 4, signals from the capitulation of the miners arose.

Bitcoin hits 5-month low

Despite the bearish trend, Core Scientific founder Darin Feinstein remained bullish, emphasizing that BTC was undervalued. Bitcoin continued to record lower lows, falling below $57,000 on July 4 and triggering settlements between new holders.
A combination of miner capitulation, whale foreign exchange depositsGerman government liquidations and Mt. Gox refunds exercised further downward pressure on BTC, eventually leading to a 5-month low of $53,485 on July 5.
Bitcoin’s crash has affected the broader market, leading to losses for the altcoin market. In addition, Bitcoin mining stocks also witnessed considerable declines.

Meme coins recover

Following the crash, Bitcoin appeared to recover, reclaiming $58,000 on July 6. However, while the birth cryptocurrency’s strength soon faded, meme coins saw more robust recoveries.
Market data confirmed that BONK, dogwifhat (WIF), PEPE, and BRETT all recorded gains of over 15% in 24 hours on July 6. Meanwhile, BTC retreated below $58,000.
Last week also saw relatively low crypto funding activity, mainly due to the July 4th holiday in the US. However, Sentient, a artificial intelligence (AI) research organization, has raised an impressive $85 million in seed funding. Several other startups created venture capital too.

German government distribution campaign

The market crash was due to multiple factors bordering on selling pressure. Data from Lookonchain revealed that the German government continued to distribute part of the 50,000 BTC seized from the now-defunct piracy platform Movie2k.

The government has been moving Bitcoin daily since July 1, sending 7,070 BTC tokens last week, a trend that has added to the pressure on the market. The German government now safe 39,826 BTC at the time of this publication.
On July 4, Tron founder Justin Sun disclosed its willingness to buy the German government’s BTC off-market to reduce the impact of the sale. Additionally, German lawmaker and Bitcoin advocate Joana Cotar loaded the government to stop BTC sales.
Meanwhile, the US government, which holds a larger amount of Bitcoin, distributed part of its holdings last week, totaling 274 Bitcoins.

Mt. Gox begins refunds

Mt. Gox refunds also contributed to the selling pressure. Mt. Gox, which recently announced plans to start payments this month, accomplished a series of test transactions on July 4, confirming intentions to move their assets.
On July 5th, the stock market collapsed transferred 47,228 BTC to a new address in preparation for repayment. Creditors eventually confirmed that refunds began on July 4, with refunds in BTC and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

Circle secures stablecoin license under MiCA

With MiCA’s stablecoin legislation in full swing, Circle received a license to provide stablecoin services around USDC under the new law across the European Union, becoming the first stablecoin issuer to obtain such licensing.
Russia’s central bank may consider legalizing stablecoins to leverage them in cryptocurrency trading China.

Other regulatory developments

European Banking Authority (EBA) confirmed expanding its Travel Rules guidelines to cover companies that provide crypto services. This change, which will come into effect from December 30, is an attempt to strengthen AML procedures.
In the US, a judge approved a motion by Ethereum development firm Consensys to expedite the timeline of its legal case against the SEC.
Mike Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital, argued that the US cryptocurrency industry would secure much-needed regulatory clarity regardless of who wins the next presidential election.

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Bitcoin

Bitcoin (BTC), Stocks Bleed as China’s Surprise Rate Cut Signals Panic, Treasury Yield Curve Steepens

Published

6 months ago

25 July, 2024

AltcoinUpdates Staff

Bitcoin (BTC), Stocks Bleed as China’s Surprise Rate Cut Signals Panic, Treasury Yield Curve Steepens

Risk assets fell on Thursday as China’s second rate cut in a week raised concerns of instability in the world’s second-largest economy.

Bitcoin (BTC)the leading cryptocurrency by market cap, is down nearly 2% since midnight UTC to around $64,000 and ether (ETH) fell more than 5%, dragging the broader altcoin market lower. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), a measure of the broader cryptocurrency market, lost 4.6% in 24 hours.

In equity markets, Germany’s DAX, France’s CAC and the euro zone’s Euro Stoxx 50 all fell more than 1.5%, and futures linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were down slightly after the index’s 3% drop on Wednesday, according to the data source. Investing.com.

On Thursday morning, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) announced a surprise, cut outside the schedule in its one-year medium-term lending rate to 2.3% from 2.5%, injecting 200 billion yuan ($27.5 billion) of liquidity into the market. That is the biggest reduction since 2020.

The movement, together with similar reductions in other lending rates earlier this week shows the urgency among policymakers to sustain growth after their recent third plenary offered little hope of a boost. Data released earlier this month showed China’s economy expanded 4.7% in the second quarter at an annualized pace, much weaker than the 5.1% estimated and slower than the 5.3% in the first quarter.

“Equity futures are flat after yesterday’s bloody session that shook sentiment across asset classes,” Ilan Solot, senior global strategist at Marex Solutions, said in a note shared with CoinDesk. “The PBoC’s decision to cut rates in a surprise move has only added to the sense of panic.” Marex Solutions, a division of global financial platform Marex, specializes in creating and distributing custom derivatives products and issuing structured products tied to cryptocurrencies.

Solot noted the continued “steepening of the US Treasury yield curve” as a threat to risk assets including cryptocurrencies, echoing CoinDesk Reports since the beginning of this month.

The yield curve steepens when the difference between longer-duration and shorter-duration bond yields widens. This month, the spread between 10-year and two-year Treasury yields widened by 20 basis points to -0.12 basis points (bps), mainly due to stickier 10-year yields.

“For me, the biggest concern is the shape of the US yield curve, which continues to steepen. The 2- and 10-year curve is not only -12 bps inverted, compared to -50 bps last month. The recent moves have been led by the rise in back-end [10y] yields and lower-than-expected decline in yields,” Solot said.

That’s a sign that markets expect the Fed to cut rates but see tighter inflation and expansionary fiscal policy as growing risks, Solot said.

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Bitcoin

How systematic approaches reduce investor risk

Published

6 months ago

25 July, 2024

AltcoinUpdates Staff

How systematic approaches reduce investor risk

Low liquidity, regulatory uncertainty and speculative behavior contribute to inefficiency in crypto markets. But systematic approaches, including momentum indices, can reduce risks for investors, says Gregory Mall, head of investment solutions at AMINA Bank.

July 24, 2024, 5:30 p.m.

Updated July 24, 2024, 5:35 p.m.

(Benjamin Cheng/Unsplash)

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Bitcoin

India to Release Crypto Policy Position by September After Consultations with Stakeholders: Report

Published

6 months ago

25 July, 2024

AltcoinUpdates Staff

“The policy position is how one consults with relevant stakeholders, so it’s to go out in public and say here’s a discussion paper, these are the issues and then stakeholders will give their views,” said Seth, who is the Secretary for Economic Affairs. “A cross-ministerial group is currently looking at a broader policy on cryptocurrencies. We hope to release the discussion paper before September.”

Fuente

Bitcoin

Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) slide as risk aversion spreads to crypto markets

Published

6 months ago

25 July, 2024

AltcoinUpdates Staff

Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) slide as risk aversion spreads to crypto markets

Ether, the second-largest token, fueled a slide in digital assets after a stock rout spread unease across global markets.

Ether fell about 6%, the most in three weeks, and was trading at $3,188 as of 6:45 a.m. Thursday in London. Market leader Bitcoin fell about 3% to $64,260.

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