The latest moves in crypto markets, in context By Lyllah Ledesma, CoinDesk reporter Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here. |
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Happy Wednesday! Here's what you need to know today in crypto: |
- Bitcoin approaches $30,000 as investors wait for U.S. inflation numbers.
- The Fed is starting a program to oversee crypto activity in banks.
- Crypto exchange Binance receives two licenses to operate in El Salvador.
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CoinDesk Market Index (CMI): 1,240 +1.8%
Bitcoin (BTC): $29,797 +1.6%
Ether (ETC): $1,859 +1.4%
S&P 500: 4,499.38 −0.4%
Gold: $1,959 +1.8%
Nikkei 225: 32,377.29 +0.4% |
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Bitcoin rose 2.3% in the past 24 hours to close to $30,000 as investors await for July's Consumer Price Index, a gauge of inflation in the U.S., which is scheduled to be released on Thursday. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is expected to come in at 0.4%, far below the pace seen a year ago. Lower inflation should mean the Federal Reserve would be less likely to raise rates. Oliver Rust, head of product at independent inflation data aggregator Truflation, predicts that the inflation numbers will show that CPI spiked from 3% to 3.4% in July. "Over the past three months, the rapid decline in inflation allowed consumers to regain their purchasing power, with wages growing at a faster rate than prices. This has resulted in the resurgence of rampant consumer spending, pushing up prices in the all-important food category," Rust wrote in a morning note. |
The Fed is starting a new program for overseeing banks' crypto activity, and it further clarified its requirement that the lenders under its authority get approval before engaging in digital-assets activities. The move announced Tuesday doesn't change any rules for crypto banking. Rather, it just defines how the central bank intends to handle oversight, putting dealings with the crypto sector under the new "novel activities supervision program" in which the Fed's specialized experts in digital assets will work alongside the regulator's regular supervisors. The Fed also issued a fuller explanation for how the banks it supervises need to get preapprovals for engaging with stablecoins. An institution that's "issuing, holding, or transacting in dollar tokens to facilitate payments" needs to prove to the supervisors beforehand that it can do it in a "safe and sound manner" and needs the Fed to formally sign off. Binance received two licenses to operate in El Salvador as it seeks to build its legitimacy worldwide, the crypto exchange said Tuesday, adding that it now has licenses in 18 markets. The Central Bank of El Salvador granted Binance a Bitcoin Services Provider license, while the Salvadoran National Commission of Digital Assets issued a non-provisional Digital Assets Services Provider license, the company said in a statement. "These licenses allow Binance to expand the products and services offered including options tailored to the needs of our customers in El Salvador," Daniel Acosta, general manager for Colombia, Central America and Caribbean at Binance, said in the statement. |
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Market Insight: Bullish Sign at $29K |
Bitcoin's "taker buy-sell ratio" recently surged on several crypto exchanges, signaling a renewed bullish sentiment around $29,000. The ratio surged to 1.36 on Aug. 1 on Bybit, reaching its highest level in at least a year, according to data tracked by South Korea-based blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant. Values above 1 indicate that takers' buy volume is outpacing the sell volume, a sign of bullish trading in the market. Bybit is the world's third-largest crypto perpetual futures exchange in terms of open interest and trading volume. The ratio hit a three-and-a-half-month high of 1.17 on crypto exchange BitMEX on Tuesday and a six-month high of 1.31 on OKX, another trading platform, on July 30. |
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- Investors are betting that Federal Reserve's tightening cycle has ended and it will cut interest rates next year. But, inflation expectations are rising.
- The chart above shows that the U.S. 5-Year, 5-Year Forward Inflation Expectation Rate, the market-based measure of expected price pressures over the next five years, has jumped to 2.53%, the highest since April 2022.
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State of Crypto: Policy & Regulation |
It is now more important than ever to set industry standards and align on practical short-term and long-term objectives through pointed conversations with the best legal minds and Washington D.C.'s most important decision makers.
Join us at State of Crypto: Policy and Regulation on October 24 in Washington D.C. for an unprecedented opportunity to evaluate, dissect and ultimately shape crypto regulatory frameworks that support a vibrant, secure and healthy future for the digital economy. Save 10% with code FM10. Learn more and register. |
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Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments. |
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Bitcoin Flirts With $30K as Traders Await CPI