Last week in the news
The saga over US debt-ceiling continues to be number one topic among investors and financial markets. During the previous week both EU and US equity markets gained on a possibility that the deal could be soon reached. On the other hand, the crypto market continues to trade in a relatively calm mood, for the second week in a row. Bitcoin is ending the week above $26.5K, and Ether above $1.8K.
The debt-ceiling talks are still in the spotlight of investors, and a question of what sort of the deal will be accomplished. As per House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, some progress has been made, but more progress is needed in order to accomplish the deal. News reported on a possibility for the debt-ceiling to be raised for a period of two years. At the same time, the US Treasury Secretary warned on Friday that the US Treasury will be able to serve its obligations until June 5th, which is now treated as a new “X date”.
As announced on Friday, the Core Personal Consumption Expenditures rose 0.4% compared to the previous month, and 4.7% on a yearly basis. Considering that results were higher from market expectation, markets are now pricing a 25 bps increase of interest rates at the FOMC meeting in June.
The German economy officially entered into technical recession as of the end of the previous year. Officially published data on German GDP show a negative trend for the last two quarters, which pushed the largest EU economy into recession. Economists are of the opinion that the trend of falling GDP should not continue during the course of this year, however, there are no expectations that GDP will grow, either.
The National bank of Norway in its report noted that the regulation around crypto assets should be further developed. They commented on recently adopted MiCA regulation within the EU, which should get into force soon, and expressed the opinion that the national bank should react sooner than to wait for internationally accepted regulation. This comes especially taking into account collapses of stablecoins, like Terra, and largest crypto exchanger FTX.
Cathie Wood, founder of the investment firm ARK Invest, commented at the Fortune`s Next Gen conference that the US is currently losing the battle within the crypto world, due to lack of a clear regulatory framework. The businesses around digital assets are moving away from the US, as Coinbase (COIN) received a license to operate in Bermuda and is looking for a way to further expand in Singapore.
South Africa is another country in line, which has introduced a law on regulating crypto business. Starting from 1st June all companies that conduct business within the area of the digital assets, need to hold a regular license from the country's Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). Such a move was generally perceived as a positive by local companies dealing with crypto assets.
Crypto market cap
The so-called X-date is now set for June 5th, at least per latest statements from Treasury Secretary Yellen. The negotiations are still taking place, while House Speaker Kevin McCarthy noted that some progress has been made but more progress is needed. This was enough for financial markets to enter again in a positive mood and trade accordingly. Although the equity markets gained on this glimpse of a potential deal in the coming period, still the crypto market continues to be in a calm phase. Investors are here on hold, waiting to see the final outcome of the debt-deal in order to position within the crypto market. For the second week in a row total market capitalization remained relatively flat. During the previous week, total market cap was decreased by modest $8B or 1%. There has been almost equal number of coins which gained and lost in value during the week. Daily trading volumes continue to be decreased, still moving around 40B on a daily basis. Market is on a road of exhaustion, waiting for a specific signal in order to be back on the old road. Total crypto market capitalization increase since the beginning of this year remained flat at 43%, where it has added a total $327B to the market cap.
Previous week was one of the rare weeks on the crypto market when there had been almost equal numbers of winning and losing coins. However, both gains and losses were in a relatively lower range. Considering that overall volume of market cap remained relatively flat, it seems that currently there is more of a repackaging of current portfolios, rather than actual flow on or from crypto market. Bitcoin lost almost $4B in market value, which represents 0.7% of its total value. Ether remained flat with a small gain of 0.4% during the week, while BNB had a modest drop of $0.7B or 1.4%. Coins which gained the most during the week in a relative terms were NEO, surging more than 10% and was followed by Miota, with a gain of 8% in the market value within a single week. Tron also had a good week, with a gain in value of 7.6%, as well as Polygon, who surged by 5.5% w/w. On a losing side were Algorand, who dropped by 9.2%, while Uniswap was down by 5.2% w/w. As for coins in circulation, XRP continues to gain since the start of this year, adding 0.2% new coins during the previous week. Tether increased its coins in circulation by 0.3%, while Filecoin`s circulating coins were up by 0.2% during the previous week.
Crypto futures market
In line with the spot market, the crypto futures market was also traded in a relatively calm mode during the previous week. Short term BTC futures were down by some 0.6% on average, while ETH futures only modestly gained during the week, of some 1.5% on average.
Longer term BTC futures had a higher drop from short term ones, of some 1.3%. Futures maturing in December this year were last traded at price of $27.305, which was 1.03% lower from the week before, while those maturing in December 2024 were down by 1.17% w/w, ending the week at price of $27.950.
ETH longer term futures were traded a bit higher, around 0.6% w/w. In this sense, futures maturing in December this year were last traded at price of $1.834, while those maturing in December next year were closed at price $1.881.
Range of prices for both coins between short and longer futures remains to be very tight. This indicates that markets are still perceiving future prices of both coins in the light of a potential recession in the US and tighter monetary conditions, from which the crypto market will not benefit.
The saga over US debt-ceiling continues to be number one topic among investors and financial markets. During the previous week both EU and US equity markets gained on a possibility that the deal could be soon reached. On the other hand, the crypto market continues to trade in a relatively calm mood, for the second week in a row. Bitcoin is ending the week above $26.5K, and Ether above $1.8K.
The debt-ceiling talks are still in the spotlight of investors, and a question of what sort of the deal will be accomplished. As per House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, some progress has been made, but more progress is needed in order to accomplish the deal. News reported on a possibility for the debt-ceiling to be raised for a period of two years. At the same time, the US Treasury Secretary warned on Friday that the US Treasury will be able to serve its obligations until June 5th, which is now treated as a new “X date”.
As announced on Friday, the Core Personal Consumption Expenditures rose 0.4% compared to the previous month, and 4.7% on a yearly basis. Considering that results were higher from market expectation, markets are now pricing a 25 bps increase of interest rates at the FOMC meeting in June.
The German economy officially entered into technical recession as of the end of the previous year. Officially published data on German GDP show a negative trend for the last two quarters, which pushed the largest EU economy into recession. Economists are of the opinion that the trend of falling GDP should not continue during the course of this year, however, there are no expectations that GDP will grow, either.
The National bank of Norway in its report noted that the regulation around crypto assets should be further developed. They commented on recently adopted MiCA regulation within the EU, which should get into force soon, and expressed the opinion that the national bank should react sooner than to wait for internationally accepted regulation. This comes especially taking into account collapses of stablecoins, like Terra, and largest crypto exchanger FTX.
Cathie Wood, founder of the investment firm ARK Invest, commented at the Fortune`s Next Gen conference that the US is currently losing the battle within the crypto world, due to lack of a clear regulatory framework. The businesses around digital assets are moving away from the US, as Coinbase (COIN) received a license to operate in Bermuda and is looking for a way to further expand in Singapore.
South Africa is another country in line, which has introduced a law on regulating crypto business. Starting from 1st June all companies that conduct business within the area of the digital assets, need to hold a regular license from the country's Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). Such a move was generally perceived as a positive by local companies dealing with crypto assets.
Crypto market cap
The so-called X-date is now set for June 5th, at least per latest statements from Treasury Secretary Yellen. The negotiations are still taking place, while House Speaker Kevin McCarthy noted that some progress has been made but more progress is needed. This was enough for financial markets to enter again in a positive mood and trade accordingly. Although the equity markets gained on this glimpse of a potential deal in the coming period, still the crypto market continues to be in a calm phase. Investors are here on hold, waiting to see the final outcome of the debt-deal in order to position within the crypto market. For the second week in a row total market capitalization remained relatively flat. During the previous week, total market cap was decreased by modest $8B or 1%. There has been almost equal number of coins which gained and lost in value during the week. Daily trading volumes continue to be decreased, still moving around 40B on a daily basis. Market is on a road of exhaustion, waiting for a specific signal in order to be back on the old road. Total crypto market capitalization increase since the beginning of this year remained flat at 43%, where it has added a total $327B to the market cap.
Previous week was one of the rare weeks on the crypto market when there had been almost equal numbers of winning and losing coins. However, both gains and losses were in a relatively lower range. Considering that overall volume of market cap remained relatively flat, it seems that currently there is more of a repackaging of current portfolios, rather than actual flow on or from crypto market. Bitcoin lost almost $4B in market value, which represents 0.7% of its total value. Ether remained flat with a small gain of 0.4% during the week, while BNB had a modest drop of $0.7B or 1.4%. Coins which gained the most during the week in a relative terms were NEO, surging more than 10% and was followed by Miota, with a gain of 8% in the market value within a single week. Tron also had a good week, with a gain in value of 7.6%, as well as Polygon, who surged by 5.5% w/w. On a losing side were Algorand, who dropped by 9.2%, while Uniswap was down by 5.2% w/w. As for coins in circulation, XRP continues to gain since the start of this year, adding 0.2% new coins during the previous week. Tether increased its coins in circulation by 0.3%, while Filecoin`s circulating coins were up by 0.2% during the previous week.
Crypto futures market
In line with the spot market, the crypto futures market was also traded in a relatively calm mode during the previous week. Short term BTC futures were down by some 0.6% on average, while ETH futures only modestly gained during the week, of some 1.5% on average.
Longer term BTC futures had a higher drop from short term ones, of some 1.3%. Futures maturing in December this year were last traded at price of $27.305, which was 1.03% lower from the week before, while those maturing in December 2024 were down by 1.17% w/w, ending the week at price of $27.950.
ETH longer term futures were traded a bit higher, around 0.6% w/w. In this sense, futures maturing in December this year were last traded at price of $1.834, while those maturing in December next year were closed at price $1.881.
Range of prices for both coins between short and longer futures remains to be very tight. This indicates that markets are still perceiving future prices of both coins in the light of a potential recession in the US and tighter monetary conditions, from which the crypto market will not benefit.
