Strengths
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the best performer for the week was Bonk, rising 77%.
- Morgan Stanely is looking to allow its 15,000 brokers to recommend Bitcoin ETFs to their customers. The firm opened up Bitcoin ETF purchases after they had been approved earlier this year, reports Bloomberg, and the bank is now looking to let its brokers pitch them directly to customers.
- Pantera Capital, one of the largest managers of digital assets, is seeking to raise more than $1 billion for a new fund that would offer investors exposure across the spectrum of blockchain assets, writes Bloomberg.
Weaknesses
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the worst performer for the week was Toncoin, down 17%.
- Tether will freeze wallets evading Venezuelan sanctions. The firm froze 41 wallets tied to the U.S. Treasury Department’s office of foreign asset control, writes Bloomberg.
- Cboe Global Markets, the first mainstream exchange to let people buy and sell Bitcoin futures, is closing down its spot digital asset trading platform and folding its crypto operations into existing derivatives and clearing business lines. The changes are being made as part of a strategic review, taking into consideration the lack of regulatory clarity in the digital asset market, writes Bloomberg.
Opportunities
- Digital payments company Block Inc., formerly known as Square, has finished the development of its Bitcoin mining chip as the CEO continues to advocate for a more accessible and decentralized system. The chip has been a bottleneck for any newcomers to compete with the incumbent, writes Bloomberg, as the development process can be time consuming.
- Hong Kong is set to follow in the footsteps of the U.S. by listing a batch of cryptocurrency ETFs, writes Bloomberg, providing a window on whether the city is making progress on fashioning a hub for digital assets. Some of China’s top asset managers are in the final leg of preparations for the spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs to begin trading potentially by the end of April.
- Stripe is bringing back crypto payments by allowing merchants using its platform to accept stablecoins for online transactions. The company’s co-founder says that stablecoins are becoming “more stable” while demonstrating a crypto payment on Stripe using Circle’s USDC token during a recent presentation, writes Bloomberg.
Threats
- The SEC wants to impose a $5.3 billion fine on Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon, the inventor of the failed TerraUSD stablecoin. Details of the proposed fine, which would be the crypto industry’s largest, come after Kwon and Terraform were found liable earlier in April following a two-week trial in New York, writes Bloomberg.
- Open interest at Chicago-based CME Bitcoin futures market is down 18% from a record high, a sign of wavering interest in crypto-related exposure and hedging among U.S. institutions, writes Bloomberg.
- Investors pulled a net $218 million from U.S. Bitcoin exchange traded funds, one of their worst daily outflows as demand for risky investments take a knock from fading hopes for the Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, Bloomberg reports.
