Last week in the news
Inflation in the U.S. hit new records in the last 40 years, reaching 8.6% in May, as published on Friday. The US equity markets closed lower after the results, as well as the crypto market. Bitcoin is finishing the week below $30K support, while Ether is testing a $1.520 support line.
Inflation figures and monetary policies were in the spotlight of the market during the previous week. Markets were waiting to see if the latest FED's monetary moves would manage to put a halt on inflation, expecting it to stay at least on April`s level of 8.3%. However, CPI exceeded expectations, reaching 8.6%, which is its highest level in the last 40 years. Output figures put investors into a negative mood, considering their increased expectations that FED will continue with its aggressive monetary policy in order to put inflation under control.
ECB meeting was held on Thursdays, where it has been concluded that the rate hike of 25 bps is coming in July, for the first time after almost 11 years. Further rate hikes are also possible till the end of this year, with the next one probably already in September. At this meeting, ECB officials increased their expectations on future development of inflation while, at the same time, they decreased expectations on EU zone growth. EU equity markets were traded lower both on Thursday and Friday.
In order to sustain competitiveness on the market, a company Checkout.com, conducting business within a field of online payments, announced that it will start accepting stablecoins for payment of goods. In partnership with Fireblocks, a crypto security firm, they are currently implementing a feature which would allow payments in USD coin, pegged to $1 USD and currently world`s second stablecoin in terms of its market cap.
New rules for stablecoins have been issued and adopted by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Licensed companies which deal with cryptocurrencies from now on would have to comply with the rules requiring reserve requirements for stablecoins which would make stablecoins redeemable, as well as, regular monthly auditing.
Another large company is joining the crypto club. The American Express, card issuing company, announced the issuance of its first card linked to crypto currencies. In cooperation with Abra platform, the Abra Crypto Card will be offered to American Express card holders where they will be rewarded in crypto currencies for their purchases.
Professionals from the investment companies Grayscale and Bitwise shared their optimism that first spot-BTC exchange traded funds might be approved soon by the SEC. They shared their insights at CoinDesk`s Consensus 2022 gathering held during the previous week. Applications for ETF`s from both firms have been submitted and waiting for final SEC`s decision until the end of June and beginning of July this year.
Crypto market cap
Inflation figures continue to drive market sentiment, including also the crypto market. Investors are looking at the moment when CPI figures will reach their peak level, since it will mean that FED will ease their current aggressive monetary policy and halt further increase in interest rates. The US CPI figures from Friday are a certain signal to markets that FED will continue with monetary tightening and further increase interest rates. Such indications are already confirmed by Fed Chair Powell, commenting on the latest inflation figures. Recession is now a word with increased use among market participants.
The crypto market reacted to CPI results in a negative manner, since this means further pull of liquidity from the markets, including the crypto market. Total market capitalization is finishing the week at a level of $1.13 trillion, which is a decrease of additional $74B or 6% on a weekly basis. Daily trading volumes remained relatively flat during the week, moving between $165B down to $125B on a daily basis. Total outflow from the beginning of this year went modestly above $1B, which is a decrease of 48%.
Major coins were the ones leading crypto market cap decrease during the previous week, with ETH leading the list. Ether lost additional $28B in market cap within a single week, which is a decrease of 13%. Bitcoin took the second place with a drop of $21B in market cap or almost 4%. Surprisingly, Binance Coin lost almost $5B within the week, which is a drop in market cap of more than 9% for this coin. List of other coins who finished the week with loss in market cap of more than $1B include XRP, losing some 6% in value, Dogecoin with a drop of more than 13% and Solana, with a drop of 9%. Despite the general market trend, there had been few coins which managed to modestly increase their market cap like LINK with an increase by 4% and Theta with additional 3% increase in value. As for coins in circulation Tron had a decrease by modest 0.5% while Filecoin increased its circulating coins by 1.7%.
Crypto futures market
Crypto futures were traded lower during the week, following spot market developments. However, as the official market closes on Friday, developments during the weekend still have not been priced, in which sense; Monday will be day to watch for current futures levels. BTC futures ended the week around 1% lower from the week before, where maturity in December this year still holds modestly above $30K. On the other hand, ETH futures were traded around 5% lower from the previous week. Maturities as of the end of this year finished the week some 3% lower from the week before, but still modestly above $1.800 level.
Inflation in the U.S. hit new records in the last 40 years, reaching 8.6% in May, as published on Friday. The US equity markets closed lower after the results, as well as the crypto market. Bitcoin is finishing the week below $30K support, while Ether is testing a $1.520 support line.
Inflation figures and monetary policies were in the spotlight of the market during the previous week. Markets were waiting to see if the latest FED's monetary moves would manage to put a halt on inflation, expecting it to stay at least on April`s level of 8.3%. However, CPI exceeded expectations, reaching 8.6%, which is its highest level in the last 40 years. Output figures put investors into a negative mood, considering their increased expectations that FED will continue with its aggressive monetary policy in order to put inflation under control.
ECB meeting was held on Thursdays, where it has been concluded that the rate hike of 25 bps is coming in July, for the first time after almost 11 years. Further rate hikes are also possible till the end of this year, with the next one probably already in September. At this meeting, ECB officials increased their expectations on future development of inflation while, at the same time, they decreased expectations on EU zone growth. EU equity markets were traded lower both on Thursday and Friday.
In order to sustain competitiveness on the market, a company Checkout.com, conducting business within a field of online payments, announced that it will start accepting stablecoins for payment of goods. In partnership with Fireblocks, a crypto security firm, they are currently implementing a feature which would allow payments in USD coin, pegged to $1 USD and currently world`s second stablecoin in terms of its market cap.
New rules for stablecoins have been issued and adopted by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Licensed companies which deal with cryptocurrencies from now on would have to comply with the rules requiring reserve requirements for stablecoins which would make stablecoins redeemable, as well as, regular monthly auditing.
Another large company is joining the crypto club. The American Express, card issuing company, announced the issuance of its first card linked to crypto currencies. In cooperation with Abra platform, the Abra Crypto Card will be offered to American Express card holders where they will be rewarded in crypto currencies for their purchases.
Professionals from the investment companies Grayscale and Bitwise shared their optimism that first spot-BTC exchange traded funds might be approved soon by the SEC. They shared their insights at CoinDesk`s Consensus 2022 gathering held during the previous week. Applications for ETF`s from both firms have been submitted and waiting for final SEC`s decision until the end of June and beginning of July this year.
Crypto market cap
Inflation figures continue to drive market sentiment, including also the crypto market. Investors are looking at the moment when CPI figures will reach their peak level, since it will mean that FED will ease their current aggressive monetary policy and halt further increase in interest rates. The US CPI figures from Friday are a certain signal to markets that FED will continue with monetary tightening and further increase interest rates. Such indications are already confirmed by Fed Chair Powell, commenting on the latest inflation figures. Recession is now a word with increased use among market participants.
The crypto market reacted to CPI results in a negative manner, since this means further pull of liquidity from the markets, including the crypto market. Total market capitalization is finishing the week at a level of $1.13 trillion, which is a decrease of additional $74B or 6% on a weekly basis. Daily trading volumes remained relatively flat during the week, moving between $165B down to $125B on a daily basis. Total outflow from the beginning of this year went modestly above $1B, which is a decrease of 48%.
Major coins were the ones leading crypto market cap decrease during the previous week, with ETH leading the list. Ether lost additional $28B in market cap within a single week, which is a decrease of 13%. Bitcoin took the second place with a drop of $21B in market cap or almost 4%. Surprisingly, Binance Coin lost almost $5B within the week, which is a drop in market cap of more than 9% for this coin. List of other coins who finished the week with loss in market cap of more than $1B include XRP, losing some 6% in value, Dogecoin with a drop of more than 13% and Solana, with a drop of 9%. Despite the general market trend, there had been few coins which managed to modestly increase their market cap like LINK with an increase by 4% and Theta with additional 3% increase in value. As for coins in circulation Tron had a decrease by modest 0.5% while Filecoin increased its circulating coins by 1.7%.
Crypto futures market
Crypto futures were traded lower during the week, following spot market developments. However, as the official market closes on Friday, developments during the weekend still have not been priced, in which sense; Monday will be day to watch for current futures levels. BTC futures ended the week around 1% lower from the week before, where maturity in December this year still holds modestly above $30K. On the other hand, ETH futures were traded around 5% lower from the previous week. Maturities as of the end of this year finished the week some 3% lower from the week before, but still modestly above $1.800 level.
