2024-06-13 12:02

The latest price moves in crypto markets in context for June 13, 2024. Latest Prices Top Stories Bitcoin held its ground above $67,000 during the European morning following the Fed's hawkish interest rate projections on Wednesday. The U.S. central bank left rates unchanged on Wednesday and predicted just one reduction this year, which sent bitcoin lower. Following a dip toward $67,000 during the Asian morning, BTC ticked back upward swiftly before trading between $67,200-$67,800. At time of writing, bitcoin is sitting above $67,900, up 0.16% 24 hours ago. The CoinDesk CD 20, meanwhile, is down 0.34% in that time. Ether has fluctuated either side of $3,500, currently 1.1% down in the last 24 hours. Paxos has laid off 65 people, amounting 20% off its staff, according to a report by Bloomberg. CEO Charles Cascarilla said that the layoffs “allows us to best execute on the massive opportunity ahead in tokenization and stablecoin" and the company is in a "very strong financial position to succeed." Paxos intends to gradually discontinue its settlement services in commodities and securities. Instead, it will concentrate more on asset tokenization and stablecoins, Bloomberg reported. Paxos has a balance sheet of around $500 million, according to disclosures from its various stablecoins. However, the company took a hit last year when the New York Department of Financial Services forced it to stop minting Binance's BUSD in early 2023, which had a market cap of $16 billion at its peak. Curve’s CRV token plunged 30% in early Asian trading hours as some loan positions supposedly tied to its founder, Michael Egorov, started to automatically liquidate, leading to sudden selling activity. Data tracked by Lookonchain and Arkham show Egorov’s addresses have taken out a cumulative loan of nearly $100 million worth of stablecoins, mostly crvUSD, against $140 million in CRV collateral. A Debank profile tracking Egorov’s wallet shows he has borrowed from Inverse, UwU Lend, Fraxlend, and Curve’s LlamaLend using CRV tokens as collateral. Total holdings across tracked wallets are down 50% in the past 24 hours. In the early Asian hours, several loans were repaid on Inverse and Llamalend with FRAX, DOLA, and CRV tokens. Chart of the Day The chart shows the number of CRV held in wallets tied to centralized exchanges spiked 57% early Thursday to record highs above 480 million. The rise shows investor intention to sell Curve's CRV token, which traded 30% lower at press time. Source - CryptoQuant - Omkar Godbole Trending Posts MicroStrategy Proposes $500M Convertible Notes to Boost Bitcoin Stash Australia's Treasury to Include Stablecoin Rules in Crypto Bill Draft, ASIC's Warning For Crypto Entities ERCOT CEO: Texas' Power Grid Needs Larger Increase Than Expected to Handle AI, Bitcoin Mining https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/06/13/first-mover-americas-bitcoin-holds-67k-crv-slides/

2024-06-13 11:06

"How recently have you consulted with your lawyers about where the law currently?" asked an ASIC representative while speaking to an audience of crypto industry-goers. Australia's regulators are looking to include stablecoin legislation into its legislative bill for the digital assets sector. A representative of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission said they had held meetings with regulators like the SEC about their legal positions on crypto. Australia's regulators have provided rare updates on their plans for the digital assets sector, including plans to introduce a draft framework for stablecoins and hinted that more enforcement is on its way against unlicensed entities during an event in Sydney on Wednesday. The event, Digital Assets: Anchoring the Digital Economy, was hosted by Blockchain Australia, the nation's policy body for the industry. Australia's Treasury previously announced plans to release draft legislation to cover licensing and custody rules for crypto asset providers by the end of 2024. Now, that draft could include a framework to regulate stablecoins. "The digital asset platform reforms have been allocated a drafting spot with The Office of Parliamentary Counsel (responsible for drafting and publishing Australian laws) that would see the exposure draft released before the end of this year," said Chris Adamek, director of the Australian Treasury's digital asset policy unit. "Within that drafting slot, there are various reforms and each has a different priority to the payments reforms, which would include our proposed framework for regulating stablecoins sit within that same slot, and they'll be sort of done one after the other. Given that overlap, reps (representatives) are hoping that both of them will be released at the same time." The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said it was assisting the government in providing advice to colleagues in the Treasury and that it was having regular meetings with peers across the world including the EU, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and North America to understand more about the cases they have filed against digital asset firms. "We are actively monitoring cases overseas and interacting regularly with our overseas peers," said Dr Rhys Bollen, senior executive leader of digital assets at ASIC. "We had an hour on the phone with the SEC this morning talking about some of the work that they're doing and what we can learn from that. We have run half a dozen (cases) already that interact with the digital assets and crypto assets base and we do have more." Additionally, ASIC's representative said it has and will provide guidance but it is also subject to the law, warning crypto entities to fall in line with the precedents set in the recent cases it has filed against crypto entities in front of an audience of industry goers. "When did you last review the tokens that you list on your platform? When was the last time you reviewed the products and services that you are making available? How recently have you consulted with your lawyers about where the law currently sees the most current understanding based on cases over the last six months or so. If you haven't done that in the last four months you need to consider where you are," Bollen said. Bollen also said ASIC would be appealing recent judgements that, at least in part, were in favor of crypto entities such as Block Earner and BPS Financial Pty Ltd (BPS). In recent times, ASIC has sued Binance Australia and social investing platform eToro, while major banks of the nation have imposed partial restrictions on crypto citing scams. Blockchain Australia has now rebranded to become the Digital Economy Council of Australia (DECA) and will include a membership category for banks. Read More: Australia's First Spot Bitcoin ETF With Direct BTC Holdings to Go Live on Tuesday https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/06/13/australias-treasury-to-include-stablecoin-rules-in-crypto-bill-draft-asics-warning-for-crypto-entities/

2024-06-13 11:04

The Nasdaq-listed firm currently holds 214,400 BTC. MicroStrategy proposes $500 million debt sale to boost BTC stash. The Nasdaq-listed firm currently holds 214,400 BTC. Nasdaq-listed business intelligence firm and bitcoin holder MicroStrategy (MSTR) announced Thursday that it intends to offer $500 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2032, proceeds of which will be used to acquire additional bitcoin and on other corporate affairs. The notes will be unsecured, senior obligations of MicroStrategy, and interest will be paid semi-annually in arrears on June 15 and December 15 of each year, beginning on December 15, 2024. The offering is subject to market conditions, and there is no guarantee about when or on what terms it may be completed. Subject to certain conditions, the company may redeem for cash all or a portion of the notes on or after June 20, 2029. Individuals believed to be qualified as institutional buyers by Rule 144A of the Securities Act of 1933 will be eligible for the private offering. MicroStrategy currently holds 214,400 BTC worth over $14 billion and is the highest public-listed bitcoin holder. The company began accumulating the leading cryptocurrency in 2020, adopting it as a reserve asset. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/06/13/microstrategy-proposes-500m-convertible-notes-to-boost-bitcoin-stash/

2024-06-13 08:57

Addresses tied to Curve founder Michael Egorov are borrowing nearly $100 million in various stablecoins against $140 million in curve tokens. CRV plunges as Curve founder faces multi-million dollar liquidation risk. Founder Micheal Egorov has taken a CRV-backed cumulative loan of nearly $100 million, data tracking firms said. Lending protocol Curve's CRV token plunged Thursday as loans tied to company founder Michael Egorov automatically liquidated, leading to a burst of selling. Data tracked by blockchain analytics firms Lookonchain and Arkham show Egorov's addresses have taken out a cumulative loan of nearly $100 million worth of stablecoins, mostly crvUSD, against $140 million in CRV collateral. Hours after the sudden move in prices, which took CRV's token price down 30% at one point, Egorov acknowledged on X that his positions were liquidated. "I have already repaid 93%, and I intend to repay the rest very shortly. It will help users not to suffer from this situation," he said. A Debank profile tracking Egorov's wallet shows he has borrowed from Inverse, UwU Lend, Fraxlend and Curve's LlamaLend using CRV tokens as collateral. Total holdings across tracked wallets are down 50% in the past 24 hours. Wallet transactions show Egorov actively taking steps to mitigate risks. In the early Asian hours, several loans were repaid on Inverse and Llamalend with FRAX, DOLA and CRV tokens. Some of the addresses also conducted several swaps between CRV and Tether's USDT, the data shows. The liquidation of such a large position started to put pressure on other DeFi protocols as CRV is used as a trading pair and ballast in trading pools across the ecosystem. One address on Frax Lend, a different lending and borrowing protocol, saw $3.3 million in liquidated positions as CRV prices fell. This is the second time Egorov's borrowed positions have created ripples in the crypto market. In 2023, an exploit of several Curve lending pools caused CRV prices to suddenly dump – putting over $100 million at risk of being liquidated. At the time, DeFi bigwigs such as Tron founder Justin Sun stepped in to supply liquidity and prevent bad debt, acquiring millions in CRV at a discount to prevent the risk of collateral damage across the crypto ecosystem. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/06/13/crv-slides-30-as-loans-tied-to-curves-founder-face-liquidation-risk/

2024-06-13 07:33

ETF inflows resumed Wednesday as U.S. inflation came in lower-than-expected. BTC tends to rally after softer-than-expected CPI releases, 10x said. The Fed will eventually signal more rate cuts, the research firm added. ETF inflows resumed Wednesday as U.S. inflation came in lower-than-expected. 10x Research continues to advocate bitcoin even as the leading cryptocurrency trades under pressure following the Fed's hawkish interest rate projections. On Wednesday, the U.S. central bank left the benchmark borrowing cost unchanged in the range of 5.25%- 5.5% as expected. However, it predicted just one rate reduction this year, down from three in March. Given the softer-than-expected CPI release early in the day, the Fed's new rate prediction likely spooked markets, sending bitcoin lower. The leading cryptocurrency by market value has pulled back to $67,400 since the Fed released rate projections, reversing the post-CPI jump to $70,000, CoinDesk data show. Still, 10x Research maintains a positive outlook on bitcoin, expressing confidence that the rally will soon resume. "Our recommendation remains unchanged: to stick with the winners (Bitcoin) and avoid others (such as Ethereum). Our previous analysis has shown that a lower CPI number tends to lift Bitcoin prices, and we anticipate this trend will continue," Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, said in a note to clients on Thursday. The U.S. consumer price inflation rate was flat in May, missing the consensus estimate for a 0.1% rise and down from 0.3% in April. The year-on-year rate was 3.3%, matching estimates and down from April's 3.4%. Per Thielen, the slowdown in inflation has historically attracted huge inflows into the U.S.-listed spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Provisional data from Farside Investors show the ETFs amassed $100 million on Wednesday, snapping a two-days outflows streak. Thielen explained that the ETF flows dried after the debut on Jan. 11 as December CPI came in higher, weakening the case for Fed rate cuts. The flows resumed in February, pushing bitcoin higher. "ETF flows turned positive at the end of January but only started to accelerate slightly ahead of the CPI data release on February 13. But when inflation again increased to 3.2% on March 12, Bitcoin ETF inflows stopped as the market priced out the narrative of 2-3 rate cuts," Thielen noted at the end of May. Thielen expects the Fed to signal more rate cuts later this year as inflation has already peaked. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/06/13/stick-with-bitcoin-avoid-ether-10x-research-says-after-fed-predicts-just-one-rate-cut-for-2024/

2024-06-12 18:14

The central bank took note of "modest" progress towards returning to 2% inflation. The Fed held policy steady, but now expects just one rate cut this year versus a projection of three rate cuts previously. Bitcoin gave up big early session gains following the Fed's hawkish turn. As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee of the U.S. Federal Reserve Wednesday held its benchmark fed funds rate range at 5.25%-5.50%, but its economic outlook now calls for just one 25 basis point rate cut this year. "In recent months, there has been modest further progress toward the Committee's 2 percent inflation objective," said the FOMC in its policy statement. The "modest" wording is notable because the previous policy statement complained of a "lack of progress" towards lower inflation. Updating its economic projections, the Fed's median expectation for the fed funds rate at year-end 2024 is now 5.1% versus 4.6% three months ago. This means the central bank is now anticipating just one 25 basis point rate cut this year versus 75 previously. The 2025 year-end fed funds expectation is now 4.1%, suggesting 100 basis points in rate cuts next year. At his post-meeting press conference, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said inflation remains too high and the central bank's focus remains on returning that gauge to its 2% target. Earlier today, the U.S. Consumer Price Index report for May showed an unexpected slowdown in inflation last month. The news sent crypto, stock and bond markets sharply higher as traders ratcheted upward their expectations for the commencement of Fed rate cuts. The hawkish turn in the Fed economic projections, later confirmed by Powell in his press conference, has taken the steam out of those rallies. Bitcoin (BTC) at 19:00 UTC had returned back to $67,300, flat over the past 24 hours. U.S. stocks and bonds closed the day with gains, but well off session highs. Update (19:15 UTC, 6/12/24): Adds comment from Powell press conference and price reaction. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/06/12/fed-holds-policy-steady-but-sees-just-one-rate-cut-this-year/