Hong Kong Provides ‘Potential Tailwind’ for East Asia Crypto Buying and selling Volumes: Chainalysis
What’s Subsequent After Bitcoin Hits $50K? One other $1K Acquire

Bitcoin’s momentum carried by in a single day, pushing upward to a brand new all-time excessive above $51,000 only a day after passing $50,000 for the primary time.
“It’s not precisely hovering, because it has with different main technical breakouts, however one other 3% acquire isn’t to be sniffed at,” Craig Erlam, senior market analyst for the overseas change dealer OANDA, wrote in an e-mail.
In conventional markets, traders had been targeted on the current rise within the U.S. Treasury yields to a 12-month excessive round 1.3% – taken as an indication that bond merchants are rising extra involved about future inflation because the economy makes a fuller recovery. Bond yields generally rise when there’s a larger likelihood of inflation, since traders need the additional revenue as compensation for the additional danger.
It’s additionally a key focus for cryptocurrency merchants, since bitcoin has develop into a well-liked method for a lot of massive traders to guess on quicker inflation and a discount within the U.S. greenback’s buying energy.
A contemporary concern this week is that the winter storm hitting the (normally heat) state of Texas may drive up gasoline prices, contributing to inflation. Crude oil held at over $60 a barrel, close to highs not seen in more than a year.
Some traders additionally see the potential for a growing supply of Treasury bonds, given President Joe Biden’s push for a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, which might seemingly must be financed through extra borrowing. Theoretically, a rise within the provide of bonds causes yields to rise, since extra traders must be enticed to purchase the securities.
All issues being equal, rising yields, whereas doubtlessly an indication of heightened inflation fears, might make bitcoin incrementally much less engaging on a relative foundation in contrast with bonds: ”Momentum funds who purchased bitcoin as a hedge towards inflation may promote if actual yields rise,” Avi Felman, head of buying and selling at BlockTower Capital, instructed CoinDesk.
Alternatively, a rise in yields may immediate the Federal Reserve to increase its financial stimulus. The U.S. central financial institution has been shopping for $120 billion of bonds a month for many of the previous 12 months to assist hold rates of interest low.
The Information
BITCOIN AS A STOCK: As asset managers proceed to push for a U.S. exchange-traded fund tied to bitcoin, whereas costs hold rising, the stress is rising on the Securities and Trade Fee to make clear its regulatory stance.
- NYDIG, an enormous digital-asset supervisor, has filed a brand new software for a bitcoin ETF, CoinDesk reported Tuesday. (VanEck and Valkyrie even have not too long ago utilized.)
- To this point, the SEC has rejected all functions for bitcoin-based ETFs. In August 2018, it rejected 9 such proposals on the identical day.
- The principle query is whether or not the market has matured sufficient to fulfill the necessities listed underneath the Securities Trade Act, the federal legislation that oversees securities buying and selling inside the U.S., CoinDesk’s Nikhilesh De wrote Tuesday in his “State of Crypto” e-newsletter on coverage and regulation.
- One other query is what stance Gary Gensler, nominated as SEC chair, will take on the matter – if he even has time to make it a precedence. Competing priorities embrace “seemingly having to kind a response to the market volatility seen final month with the GameStop inventory pump,” De wrote.
- Canadian regulators on Tuesday accepted the nation’s second bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Evolve’s bitcoin ETF was conditionally accepted to commerce on the Toronto Inventory Trade, following approval of Purpose Investment’s offering final week. “It’s a promising signal if there are not any points with launching a bitcoin ETF in Canada,” mentioned James Seyffart, ETF analysis analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
- “A lot work has been achieved within the backend of this, the plumbing, to successfully enable one thing like this,” Goal Investments CEO Som Seif mentioned Tuesday on CoinDesk TV’s “First Mover” present.
- Osprey Funds mentioned its bitcoin belief is now accessible to retail traders by way of over-the-counter markets, becoming a member of a crop of recent bitcoin funds aimed squarely on the market-leading Grayscale Bitcoin Belief (GBTC) earlier than a bitcoin ETF is accepted by the SEC.
TEXAS WINTER STORM HITS CRYPTO: Bitcoin mining farms in Texas go offline as an unusually harsh winter storm and chilly spell within the southern U.S. strains the electrical energy grid.
Market Strikes
What comes subsequent now that bitcoin has handed $50K?
The subsequent key milestone for bitcoin would come when the cryptocurrency’s market capitalization tops $1 trillion, a threshold that might sign a brand new degree of maturity for the asset. Based mostly on the excellent variety of bitcoins, presently about 18.63 million, that might occur when bitcoin’s worth clears $53,677.
Within the meantime, right here’s a sampling of commentary from analysts and different observers on what’s subsequent for the bitcoin market:
- QCP Capital: Choices market “is pricing a ten% likelihood of $400,000 by 12 months’s finish, 15% likelihood of $300,000, 30% likelihood of $160,000 and near a 50/50 likelihood of upper than $100,000.”
- Alessandro Andreotti, bitcoin over-the-counter dealer: “In my view we’re going to hold reaching contemporary new highs quickly.”
- Matt Blom, head of gross sales and buying and selling, EQUOS: “If the market stays robust and holds above $50,000, then we see momentum constructing and the race to a $1T market cap is effectively and actually on. $54,000 remains to be the goal, and searching forward, with little or no to cease this pattern, ideas of $60,000 is not going to be removed from merchants’ minds.”
- Edward Moya, senior market analyst, OANDA: “Every single day, it appears there are contemporary catalysts for Bitcoin.”
- Denis Vinokourov, head of analysis at digital belongings prime dealer Bequant: “Yesterday’s information that MicroStrategy is to purchase one other spherical of Bitcoin utilizing the proceeds from their introduced $600 million observe providing must be a net-positive for the worth motion. However there’s a danger that, much like QE bulletins, that market individuals will probably be demanding bigger and bigger ticket sizes or push costs decrease.” (EDITOR’S NOTE: MicroStrategy has elevated the scale of the observe providing to $900 million.)
- Mati Greenspan, founder, Quantum Economics: “At this level, folks must be asking simply how for much longer the occasion may final? The sheer curiosity within the area and new cash that’s reportedly being pumped into bitcoin as a hedge towards copious quantities of brrrrrrr from J-POW and the Biden administration might effectively ship bitcoin proper previous the $50,000 mark and into the stratosphere.”
- JPMorgan: Bitcoin’s cost to a file north of $50,000 isn’t sustainable except the cryptocurrency’s worth swings quiet down shortly, in response to a research note published Tuesday.
- Wedbush Securities: “We consider the pattern of transactions, bitcoin investments, and blockchain-driven initiatives might surge over the approaching years as this bitcoin mania just isn’t a fad in our opinion, however fairly the beginning of a brand new age on the digital foreign money entrance.”
- Joel Kruger, cryptocurrency strategist, LMAX Digital: “Now that we’ve lastly pushed by this subsequent nice barrier, we advocate exercising excessive warning over the short-term. The market has gone parabolic since breaking by $20,000, and technical research are warning of the necessity for a wholesome pullback within the days and weeks forward to permit for severely stretched readings to unwind and normalize.”
- James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Financial institution of St. Louis: “I simply assume for Fed coverage, it’s going to be a greenback financial system so far as the attention can see – a greenback world financial system actually so far as the attention can see – and whether or not the gold worth goes up or down, or the bitcoin worth goes up or down, doesn’t actually have an effect on that.”
- Eric Demuth, CEO, Bitpanda: “In my view, it’s only a matter of time till bitcoin turns into the brand new gold and will probably be added to the steadiness sheet of central banks.”
Bitcoin Watch
Weak spot-market quantity may be trigger for concern

One other day, one other file excessive for bitcoin. The highest cryptocurrency rose above $51,000 early Wednesday, taking the month-to-date acquire to 54% amid a wave of institutional adoption.
- The choices market is biased bullish, with each short-term and long-term name choices drawing greater costs than places or bearish bets, CoinDesk’s Omkar Godbole writes.
- The one trigger for concern is the weak spot market quantity on institution-focused exchanges reminiscent of Coinbase Professional. As seen within the chart above, the 10-day common of every day buying and selling quantity is trending south, placing a query mark on the sustainability of the breakout above $50,000.
- As such, a sudden pullback, probably to the 10-day common of bitcoin’s worth, presently at $47,700, can’t be dominated out.
- Pricing in futures market appears bullish, with the March contract on Chicago-based CME buying and selling at 2.57% above the spot bitcoin worth, representing an annualized premium of 24%, effectively above the common round 15%, the Norwegian cryptocurrency-analysis agency Arcane Research famous Tuesday in a weekly report. “The market is closely tilted in the direction of the upside, which might set off brutal liquidations as we advance,” the analysts wrote.
- Most monetary executives, together with CFOs, usually are not planning to spend money on bitcoin as a company asset this 12 months, in response to a brand new survey by marketing consultant Gartner. Eighty-four % of polled executives (representing 77 companies) instructed Gartner in February they had been spooked by “monetary danger as a consequence of volatility of Bitcoin” when contemplating whether or not to spend money on the crypto.
Token Watch
Ether (ETH): Prospects of the Coinbase cryptocurrency change can now signal as much as stake ether into the Beacon Chain sensible contract, which was set as much as assist facilitate the Ethereum blockchain’s deliberate “2.0” transition to a “proof-of-stake” system from the present “proof-of-work” system, which is what the Bitcoin blockchain makes use of.
- The Shiba Inu-themed token began off as a joke cryptocurrency however now has a market capitalization of $7 billion and an enormous world following. How did all of it occur? CoinDesk’s Ollie Leach explains.
- “DOGE is certainly comparatively concentrated,” the blockchain analytics agency Coin Metrics wrote Tuesday in a report. “The highest 100 largest DOGE addresses maintain 68.1% of whole provide. Comparatively, the highest 100 largest BTC addresses solely maintain 13.7% of whole provide.”
