Strengths
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the best performer for the week was VeChain, rising 61%.
- Bitcoin hovered around $50,000 this week after scaling the closely watched level for the first time in over two years, a remarkable comeback from the crypto scandals and wipeouts that had cast doubt on the industry’s viability, writes Bloomberg.
- Citigroup has carried out simulations which show how a private equity fund can be tokenized on a blockchain network, potentially paving the way for greater adoption of distributed ledger technology on Wall Street. The bank worked with Wellington Management and WisdomTree to carry out its ‘proof of concept,’ writes Bloomberg.
Weaknesses
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the worst performer for the week was Celestia, down 7%.
- Genesis Global has settled a lawsuit brought by New York’s top law enforcement official alleging the bankrupt crypto lender defrauded customers of its now-terminated Gemini Earn program, which was run jointly with Gemini Trust Co. The settlement is structured so that assets that could have otherwise gone to state authorities will instead be returned to former Earn customers and other Genesis creditors, writes Bloomberg.
- New Zealand central bank governor Adrian Orr has issued a warning about cryptocurrencies such as stablecoins, saying they are no substitute for fiat money. Stablecoins are “the biggest misnomers” and “oxymorons,” Orr told a parliamentary committee Monday in Wellington, writes Bloomberg.
Opportunities
- Crypto traders are snapping cheap, out-of-the-money (OTM) bitcoin calls at levels around the cryptocurrency’s lifetime high of $69,000. Over the weekend many call options at strikes $65,000, $70,000, and $75,000 changed hands on Deribit, the world’s leading crypto options exchange by volumes and open interest, according to Kelly Greer in an interview with CoinDesk.
- Bitcoin climbed past $52,000 this week in a broad cryptocurrency rally that saw Ether, the second-biggest token, advance back to where it was before the TerraUSD stablecoin collapsed almost two years ago. Bitcoin’s 22% year-to-date gain pushed its market cap above $1 trillion for the first time since December 2021, according to an article published by Bloomberg.
- Chris Rayner-Cook, formally head of global trading and financing at the U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase Global, has joined Brevan Howard Digital, according to a person familiar with the situation. The one-time portfolio manager at hedge funds including Millennium and Citadel was with Coinbase for about three years, writes Bloomberg.
Threats
- A Kansas bank that failed last July after its CEO allegedly siphoned off funds to buy cryptocurrency drew $21 million from the Federal Home Loan Bank System shortly before collapsing, writes Bloomberg.
- Binance Holdings founder CZ’s sentencing for failing to implement anti-money laundering policies was delayed to April from February 2023. U.S. District judge Richard Jones in Seattle on Monday rescheduled Zhao’s sentencing without providing a reason, writes Bloomberg.
- A new crop of legal challenges awaits issuers of spot Bitcoin ETFs now available to broad swaths of investors, lawyers say. The investment vehicle’s broad appeal means that issuers need to go above and beyond standard compliance with disclosure requirements, focusing on investor education to acquaint those less familiar with volatile digital assets, writes Bloomberg.
