Strengthens
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the best performer for the week was Quant, which rose 33.86%.
- Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority has approved the crypto operations of Revolut, a key step for the British fintech’s ambitions to expand in the space, Bloomberg reports. The registration comes after Revolut spent months relying on temporary permission to operate its crypto asset business. The company was among a dozen others who received an extension to get their applications or cases in order after a deadline in March expired, the article explains.
- Bitcoin is poised for a bit of a win this quarter, Bloomberg reports, although the scale may not seem like much for an asset class where big gains were until recently the order of the day. Bitcoin is up 3.4%, which could be a further sign that crypto prices may have stabilized after dramatic falls at the beginning of the year.
Weaknesses
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, Chiliz was the worst performer for the week, down 10.29%.
- “Unfortunately, crypto pricing has become correlated with risky assets, which I honestly don’t think needs to be true,” said Dan Morehead of Pantera Capital. He hopes that crypto will disconnect from the macro markets, but until the correlation remains at elevated levels, crypto traders are watching to see if Bitcoin will hit a new low for the year.
- Cryptocurrency-exposed stocks fell on Thursday amid a broad-based sell-off in risk assets that saw Bitcoin briefly slip back below the $19,000 level. Crypto stocks that were down on Thursday included: Core Scientific -7.6%, Coinbase -7% and Riot Blockchain -5.6%. Wells Fargo analyst Jeff Cantwell initiated coverage on Coinbase with an underweight rating, saying it faces headwinds from increasing competition, according to Bloomberg.
Possibilities
- Binance is seeking a license to operate in Japan, four years after it pulled out of the country because it did not have a permit, according to people familiar with the matter. The nation’s easy approach to crypto and a significant potential for user growth are the key reasons for Binance’s renewed interest in the world’s third largest economy, writes Bloomberg.
- FTX US won the auction for the assets of bankrupt crypto brokerage Voyager Digital Ltd. The deal is valued at about $1.4 billion, which includes an “additional consideration” worth about $111 million and the $1.3 billion market value of all cryptocurrency on the bankrupt platform, Bloomberg reports. Customers will be able to transfer to the FTX US platform after the conclusion of the bankruptcy process.
- There’s a side of crypto that gets less attention: the segment of the community interested in the way the technology that powers crypto can decentralize decision-making, make institutions more transparent, and transform the way organizations are governed. It is the side that is far more interesting, writes Bloomberg.
Threats
- South Korea said Interpol asked law enforcement worldwide to locate and arrest Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon, who faces charges related to the wipeout of $60 billion of cryptocurrencies he created. Prosecutors in Seoul said Monday in a text message that the international police organization has issued a Red Notice for Kwon, the latest disgraceful chapter in a $2 trillion digital asset heist that exposed hugely risky practices, writes Bloomberg.
- Anatoly Yakovenko, the founder of Solana, sees a long road ahead when it comes to potential mainstream adoption of crypto, Bloomberg reports. Adoption “really happens” when a person “figures out how to generate a key and store it securely, and then sign transactions. It’s a very slow process,” Yakovenko said.
- A senior central bank official in Singapore is repeatedly warning cryptocurrency firms that politicians will crack down on crypto players who fan speculation in the country. Sopnendu Mohnaty, Chief Fintech Officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, reminded traders to be careful how they lure customers, writes Bloomberg.
