Strengths
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the best performer for the week was dogwifhat, rising 55%.
- Coinbase Global shares jumped as much as 26% on Tuesday, the biggest intraday gain since November 6 to the highest level since February, after S&P Dow Jones Indices said the company will join the S&P 500 Index before trading open May 19. The stock wiped out a year-to-date decline that stood at 17% through Monday, writes Bloomberg.
- Strategy bought 13,400 Bitcoin for $1.4 billion from May 5 to May 11, at an average purchase price of $99,856 per Bitcoin. This brings Strategy’s total holdings to 568,840 Bitcoin, reports Bloomberg.
Weaknesses
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the worst performer for the week was DeXe, down 13%.
- Galaxy Digital shares are down as much as 3.1% after the crypto and data center company reported a net loss per share of $0.86, as crypto prices fell during the quarter, explains Bloomberg. First-quarter losses were driven primarily by the depreciation of digital asset prices, a one-time $57 million impairment charge, and disposal costs related to the wind-down of mining operations at the company's Helios data center campus.
- Andrew Peel, Morgan Stanley’s digital asset head, is leaving the bank to start his own crypto and digital asset investment fund and trading technology firm. Peel’s move comes as Morgan Stanley prepares to add cryptocurrency trading to its retail-focused E*TRADE platform, expected to launch next year, according to Bloomberg.
Opportunities
- D2X, a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, will allow institutional clients to keep their trading collateral with ABN Amro Clearing Bank, reducing counterparty risk and increasing capital efficiency, Bloomberg explains. D2X, backed by Point72 Ventures and Flow Traders, euro-denominated Bitcoin and Ether futures and plans to introduce dollar-denominated futures and options.
- eToro Group’s U.S. IPO attracted orders for more than 20 times the number of shares available in the upsized offering. The 10 largest accounts took 55% of the shares, according to a Bloomberg article.
- Galaxy Digital Holdings is in talks with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to tokenize its own stock and other equities using its digital-asset platform. The company aims to turn its shares into tokens for use in decentralized-finance applications, and eventually tokenize other assets like stock, fixed income, and ETF.
Threats
- Hackers bribed Coinbase contractors or employees outside the U.S. to steal sensitive customer data and demanded a $20 million ransom. The incident could cost Coinbase up to $400 million to remediate, although less than 1% of the exchange’s monthly transacting users were affected. Coinbase has refused to pay the ransom and is offering a $20 million bounty for information leading to those responsible.
- Prosecutors disclosed that the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Network told them that Samourai wallet, a crypto-mixing service, didn’t qualify as a money service business required to have a license and anti-money laundering controls, according to Bloomberg.
- The daughter and grandson of a French crypto exchange CEO were targeted in a failed kidnap attempt, says Bloomberg, adding to the growing number of crypto-related kidnapping cases in the country. A video widely shared on social media showed the attempt, in which three masked men wrestled the women and another person to the ground in Paris.
