Strengths
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the best performer for the week was Cat in a Dogs world, rising 87.10%.
- Bitcoin edged up to the highest level in over a month as traders evaluated the implications of U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to abandon his reelection bid. Bitcoin recovered losses to hover around $67,000 on Monday as markets reacted to the possibility of a Trump presidency, according to Bloomberg.
- Regulators approved the first U.S. ETF investing directly in Ether according to filings and statements from asset managers. The latest development paves the way for imminent trading of the ETFs, reports Bloomberg, and highlights a softening in the U.S. regulatory climate.
Weaknesses
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the worst performer for the week was Lido DAO, down 20.09%.
- India’s finance minister introduced an interim budget and kept the crypto tax rules unchanged in her recent address. The primary demand from India’s crypto industry was to reduce the controversial tax-deducted-at-source policy on crypto transactions from 1% to 0.01%, according to Bloomberg.
- The yen’s resurgence is causing a broad market selloff, driving the yuan higher and negatively impacting assets like Japanese stocks, gold, and Bitcoin. Investors are re-evaluating leveraged positions amid expectations that the interest rate gap between Japan and the U.S. will narrow, triggering widespread deleveraging and increased market volatility.
Opportunities
- In another sign that crypto is back in vogue, more new tokens have been listed on major digital-asset exchanges in the first half of this year than in all of 2023, Bloomberg reports. On higher volume exchanges including Binance and Bybit, coin listings are cumulatively up11.6% to 2,0066 in the first six months of the year.
- About a year and half after the collapse of crypto friendly banks in the U.S., European players are pushing to reinvigorate the market for around the clock payments in the digital asset sector. As reported by Bloomberg, AMINA Bank and Sygnum Bank have debuted real time payment and settlement networks. They are targeting the gap left by Silvergate Exchange Network.
- South Korea’s right-wing political party has proposed delaying the taxation of cryptocurrency gains by three years. If passed, the country’s crypto gains taxation will be pushed back from the beginning of 2025 to 2028. The right-wing people power party’s president has pledged to push back crypto gains, writes Bloomberg.
Threats
- Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, plummeted by 7.8% to $3,160, leading to a sharp decline in digital assets following a significant drop in equities. With Bitcoin also down 2%, and experts warning that if investor sentiment continues to sour and the yen strengthens further, Ether could tumble even lower.
- The OECD has urged nations to improve their implementation of owner-info rules, highlighting severe deficiencies in nearly half of the 112 jurisdictions assessed in their framework for beneficial ownership disclosure. The group also notes progress in tax transparency for real estate and cryptocurrency with 58 nations agreeing to the Crypto Asset Reporting Framework.
- Celebrity tokens launched on the Solana blockchain have seen an average decline of 94% from their all-time highs within a month, with the majority experiencing dramatic drops in market value and only a few remaining actively promoted by the celebrities themselves. This has raised concerns about their legitimacy and long-term viability.
