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 Tuesday! Here's what you need to know today in crypto: |
- Coinbase is acquiring a minority stake in Circle Internet Financial.
- Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyers are suggesting he acted in "good faith," with a trial set for October.
- Friend.tech gains 100,000 users in days.
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CoinDesk Market Index (CMI): 1,114 +0.1%
Bitcoin (BTC): $26,037 +0.4%
Ether (ETC): $1,662 −0.3%
S&P 500 futures: 4,430.00 +0.4%
FTSE 100: 7,308.78 +0.7%
Treasury Yield 10 Years: 4.34% +0.1 |
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Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) bought a minority stake in stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial. The two companies also dissolved their Centre Consortium partnership, which issues the world's second-largest stablecoin USD Coin (USDC. As part of the move, Circle will bring issuance and governance of USDC fully in-house. Also, six more blockchains will gain native support for USDC, which is pegged at $1, bringing the total number of supported blockchains to 15. Coinbase and Circle, in a blog post and interviews with CoinDesk, did not disclose the size of the stake acquired by Coinbase. Coinbase did not give Circle cash for the stake, according to a person familiar with the matter. |
The U.S. Department of Justice and Sam Bankman-Fried filed competing sets of jury instructions for the FTX founder's trial which is set for October, a day before he is set to be arraigned on a new superseding indictment. Prosecutors filed the document, titled "the government's requests to charge," late Monday, adapting from various previous sets of jury instructions including past statements from Judge Lewis Kaplan, the Southern District of New York judge overseeing Bankman-Fried's case. The FTX founder faces seven different charges, ranging from wire fraud, securities fraud and commodities fraud conspiracy to money laundering allegations, to which he has pleaded not guilty. Social platform Friend.tech, which lets holders buy "shares" of people who hold an account on X, formerly known as Twitter, and grants the buyers certain privileges, has surged to more than 100,000 addresses since its Aug. 10 launch according to a database created by Yearn Finance developer @Bantg. The database, listed briefly on GitHub and now withdrawn, apparently listed the crypto wallet addresses and linked X accounts. The growth correlates with the huge revenues made by the platform since its Aug. 10 launch, with over $25 million in fees generated, according to DefiLlama. A Dune Analytics dashboard corroborates the finding, pegging the number of unique users to at least 80,000, with 15,000 users added since Sunday. |
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Market Insight: Bitcoin Looks Oversold |
A technical analysis indicator shows extreme oversold conditions in bitcoin as surging bond yields weigh over risk assets, including cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin's 14-day relative strength index (RSI) has dropped well below 30, indicating oversold conditions. The indicator has dropped to its lowest since the coronavirus-induced crash of March 2020. The RSI is a momentum indicator ranging between 0 to 100 that shows the asset's recent price movement relative to its average price movement over a specific period, usually 14 days. |
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- The chart shows spread between bitcoin's next month and front month futures contracts trading on the CME and bitcoin's spot market price.
- The spread remains elevated after past week's 10% slide.
- Historically, negative spread has marked interim and bear market bottoms.
- Source: TradingView.
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A message from TechCrunch TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 |
TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 is coming up next month on September 19-21 in San Francisco. Members of the CoinDesk community get 50% off select passes now through 11:59 p.m. PT on Friday, August 25. You'll love the new Fintech Stage at Disrupt showcasing topics like Blockchain, Challenger banks, DeFi, NFTs, The future of payments, Web3, and more! |
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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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Coinbase Acquires Stake in Circle