opinion

Crypto SWOT: Last week, bitcoin traded above $21,000 again

Kitco Media
By Frank E Holmes
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Strengths

  • Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the best performer for the week was Frax Share, rising 52.68%.

  • Bitcoin is starting the year on a strong note, seemingly shaking off any negative sentiment it was mired in last year and on the verge of its longest winning streak in nearly a decade. Bitcoin was little changed after rising for 13 straight days, which added more than 25%, to trade above $21,000, writes Bloomberg.

  • FTX's controversial FTT token surged by more than 40% after the bankrupt company's new CEO John J. Ray said that he's exploring the possibility of restarting the crypto exchange. A relaunch is one option under consideration as Ray works to return money to FTX's customers, writes Bloomberg.

Weaknesses

  • Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the worst performing for the week was Trust Wallet, down 3.46%.

  • Silvergate Capital Corp. reported a $1 billion loss and said it would offboard some non-core digital asset customers following a quarter that saw a dramatic drawdown in deposits after the collapse of Sam Bankman Fried's FTX. The bank said the losses stemmed mainly from assets sales it was forced to make following the unraveling of the crypto exchange, writes Bloomberg.  

  • Bitcoin fell for the first time in about two weeks, snapping a string of gains that had provided some comfort to advocates of digital assets in the wake of last year's market meltdown. Bitcoin fell as much as 4.2% to $20,412 on Wednesday, writes Bloomberg.

Opportunities

  • HashKey Capital has raised $500 million to create one of Asia's biggest crypto investment pools, betting on a rebound in the industry still reeling from the collapse of FTX. HashKey's latest fund will invest in blockchain infrastructure and applications that have potential for mass adoption, writes Bloomberg, with money from investors including sovereign wealth funds, family offices and high-net-worth individuals.  

  • Former FTX U.S. president Brett Harrison has raised $5 million for a new crypto software startup from investors such as Coinbase Ventures and Circle Ventures as he tries to move past his association with Sam Bankman-Fried's failed digital-asset exchange. The venture, Architect, will build trading software to make centralized and decentralized crypto markets easier to use for large investors like institutions, writes Bloomberg.  

  • Charles Hoskinson, co-founder of the Cardano blockchain, said that he is considering buying crypto news service CoinDesk to revamp it into a mix of a news and community site. CoinDesk said Wednesday that it engaged Lazard as a financial adviser to explore options including a partial or full sale. The site is owned by Digital Currency Group, a conglomerate whose lending subsidiary Genesis filed for bankruptcy, writes Bloomberg.

Threats

  • OSL, a digital-assets platform backed by Fidelity International, is cutting costs by about a third as turbulence in crypto markets continues to reverberate throughout the industry. The decision to cut costs was made in response to "current market conditions," writes Bloomberg.  

  • A Russian national was charged with money laundering in connection with a cryptocurrency operation that allowed criminals to mask the proceeds of illegal gambling and drug deals valued at $700 million. Anatoly Legkodymov, founder of crypto exchange Bitzlato, was arrested Tuesday in Miami, the U.S. Justice Department said at a press conference Wednesday. Bitzlato was a critical financial resource for the Hydra dark web market, writes Bloomberg.  

  • Cryptocurrency lender Genesis Global Holdco filed for bankruptcy, the latest firm to collapse in the aftermath of FTX's swift downfall. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection on Thursday in the Southern District of New York, writes Bloomberg.

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Frank E Holmes

Frank Holmes is CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors, Inc., a boutique investment advisory firm based in San Antonio that manages domestic and offshore funds specializing in the natural resources and emerging markets sectors. The company’s no-load mutual funds include the Global Resources Fund (ticker PSPFX), the World Precious Minerals Fund (UNWPX) and the Gold Shares Fund (USERX).

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Frank Holmes
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