Regulators around the world have begun taking tentative steps to regulate crypto and digital assets. Such assets are a new frontier in finance. And available evidence does not encourage much trust or confidence in their value or, for that matter, utility. How, then, should they be regulated? A panel discussion at the Bank of International… Read More How to Regulate Crypto
Crypto’s profit-making method has snuck into mainstream markets through the SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisitions Company) crack. The world’s biggest crypto ATM operator, Bitcoin Depot, debuted on NASDAQ Monday and the price of its holding company, GSRM II, jumped by 12% in pre-market trading. Trading markets have low liquidity before they open and small orders can… Read More Notes 7/5: Bitcoin Depot, Ether Prices, LSD Tokens
Bitcoin price edged past the $31,000 mark once again this morning. As of this writing, it is trading at $31,040.82, up 2% from its price yesterday. There are no fresh catalysts to pump its price further. But it might be preparing for a big move if derivatives are signals for future price action. The open… Read More Notes 7/3: All-time Highs for Bitcoin and Ether Options, Restaking Once Again, and Future of Crypto Exchanges
Bitcoin price rallied past the $31,000 mark, a key figure in its price trajectory according to some analysts, last week on the news that investment giant BlackRock had filed for a bitcoin ETF. The rally was short-lived, however. As of this writing, the cryptocurrency is changing hands at $30,552.77, relatively unchanged from its price a… Read More Notes 7/2: Bitcoin Price On The Cusp of Big Move?
In the repetitive cycle of scandals and whining in crypto, it is easy to forget that the technology has the potential to be useful. The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) recently released an interim report about a Proof of Concept (PoS) for currency trading using smart contracts, distributed ledger technology (DLT), and a synthetic version… Read More BIS Releases Interim Project Report for Currency Trading Using DeFi
Bitcoin price was supposed to climb higher today on the back of goods news about Bitcoin ETF filings and an options expiry. But it fell by more than $1,000 this morning to $29,770 this morning after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deemed the recent bitcoin ETF filings, which were supposed to have pumped the… Read More Notes 6/30: Bitcoin Price Falls, Binance.US Discount, and Ethereum As Commodity
Bitcoin price continues to linger in the $30,000 range, awaiting its next catalyst in the form of an options expiry this Friday. Based on historical performance, investors are bracing themselves for a price rally in July. As of this writing, it is changing hands for $30,205.28, down by 2% in one day. Its price remains… Read More Notes 6/28: Bitcoin Price July Rally, TUSD Depegs
What is the future of the monetary system? It might be more of the present. For the time being, at least. A blueprint for the monetary system’s future sketched out by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) released last week places central and commercial banks at the center of an ecosystem dominated by tokenized deposits.… Read More Notes 6/27: BIS Future Monetary System, Bitcoin Price
Bitcoin is changing hands at $30,242.35, relatively unchanged from its price a day earlier. But the party is still on at Binance.US. Traders can make profits hand over fist at the exchange. They can purchase the cryptocurrency for $29,300 and sell it at other venues, where it is more expensive. Or, they can redeem the… Read More Notes 6/26: Binance.US Party Continues, Bitcoin Price Future
The kimchi premium of 2018 has become a hamburger discount in 2023 at Binance’s American subsidiary. Back then, bitcoin’s premium trade at cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea enabled traders to execute arbitrage strategies using price differences between exchanges in South Korea and those located in other geographies. In 2023, bitcoin is trading at a discount… Read More Notes 6/25: Binance.US Burger Discount
Algorithmic stablecoin Tether has lost its peg at Binance.US as bitcoin price rallied past $31,000 this morning. According to data from crypto prices aggregation site CoinGecko, bitcoin price is trading at $31,152.69, up 3.5% from a day earlier, right now and Tether’s peg is intact at $1. There is a different story playing out at… Read More Notes 6/23: Tether Loses Peg At Binance.US As Bitcoin Price Blitzes Past $31,000, Crypto Derivatives Turn Bullish (Why?!), and TUSD’s News Cycle
Even as liquidity in the bitcoin ecosystem continues to shrink and regulators continue to crack down on its operations, Bitcoin price rallied past the $30,000 mark yesterday. It continues to hold onto that position for a second straight day this morning. As of this writing, it is changing hands for $30,233.80, up 3.2% from its… Read More Notes 6/22: Bitcoin Price Continues to Hold Above $30,000
Bitcoin price continues its logic-defying ascent amid a flurry of bitcoin ETF filings. It swept past the $30,000 mark this afternoon, touching a high of $30,585 before retreating slightly. As of this writing, it is changing hands at $30,206.95, up by a staggering 8% from yesterday and 16% from last week. During its surge, the… Read More Notes 6/21: Bitcoin Price Pops Past $30,000, Stablecoin Regulation
Bitcoin price remains ‘steady’ this morning after more turmoil last week. As of this writing, it is changing hands for $26,753.59, up roughly 1.5% from yesterday. But that steady hand masks turmoil in its ecosystem. Bitcoin Price’s Steady Turmoil According to analytics firm Glassnode, the amount of bitcoin held in illiquid entities has risen to… Read More Notes 6/20: Bitcoin Price Defies Logic and Demand, Ethereum Validator Mystery
For the most part, the relationships and dependencies in cryptocurrencies are make believe trades using worthless tokens. But they offer a good blueprint for how dubious assets can carve a path into the financial system and cause a crisis. The latest example of this comes from the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. Liquid staking platforms and… Read More Notes 6/16: LSD Tokens
Well, that turned out to be an anticlimax. A bunch of publications – CoinDesk, Bloomberg, and The Block – yesterday published a makeup of controversial stablecoin Tether’s reserves in May 2021, after it had paid a penalty and settled with the New York Attorney General (NYAG) for commingling its reserve funds with those for sister… Read More Tether Reserves Reports Engineer Brief Loss of Peg for Its Stablecoin
It is time to take out the popcorn. The New York Attorney General’s office has handed documents related to its 2021 settlement with stablecoin issuer, Tether, to CoinDesk. The publication is said to be “reviewing” the documentation. Tether has never submitted its finances to a comprehensive audit; instead, it published attestations – snapshots of its… Read More Notes 6/16: Tether Documents, Ether As An “Other” Token, and Bitcoin ETFs Again
Algorithmic stablecoin Tether lost its peg briefly amid trader selloffs of USDT at Curve Finance, a liquidity pool that operates in decentralized finance (DeFi) markets, this morning. According to Coinmarketcap, a site owned by Binance – an exchange where Tether records its biggest volumes, the stablecoin was trading as low as $0.9968. While its peg… Read More Notes 6/15: Tether Loses Peg, Bitcoin and Tether Dominance
Slightly more than a month after Ethereum enabled withdrawals of staked ether on its platform, the landscape for staking presents a rosy picture on the surface. The numbers of staked ether and platforms offering staking services has multiplied. Ether’s staking yield, which was expected to decline after withdrawals, popped after the event. Underneath, however, the… Read More Ethereum Staking After Withdrawals
Bitcoin price pushed past the $26k mark this morning, peaking at $26,353 before retrenching its gains. As of this writing, the cryptocurrency is changing hands for $25,883.04, relatively unchanged from yesterday. For the past week, bitcoin price has traded in a narrow range between $25,000 and $26,000 as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mounted… Read More Notes 6/13: Bitcoin Price Jumps and XRP Price Bounces
In a week when the SEC attempted to carbonize bitcoin liquidity further with its lawsuits against two prominent cryptocurrency exchanges, algorithmic stablecoin Tether is making plans to ensure future supply of the crypto necessary to maintain its peg. Earlier this week, the company was reported to have put money into a 241-MW renewable energy park… Read More Notes 6/10: Tether’s Volcano Investment, Bitcoin Mining Consolidation