Plus, Solana and Cardano post 15% daily gains
The latest moves in crypto markets, in context By Lyllah Ledesma, CoinDesk reporter Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here. |
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Welcome to Monday! Here's what's happening in crypto today: |
- DCG gets investigated by the SEC and DOJ.
- Solana and Cardano made gains over 15% on Monday morning.
- Voyager defends its $1B plan to sell assets to Binance.US.
- Bitcoin topped $17K for first time since Dec. 16.
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Want our 5 p.m. ET market update? |
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CoinDesk Market Index (CMI): 843 +3.9%
Bitcoin (BTC): $17,241 +1.9%
Ether (ETC): $1,320 +4.6%
S&P 500 futures: 3,931.25 +0.4%
FTSE 100: 7,691.39 −0.1%
Treasury Yield 10 Years: 3.57% −0.2 |
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Barry Silbert's Digital Currency Group (DCG) is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Eastern District of New York and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The entities are examining financial transfers between DCG and its Genesis unit. The prosecutors with the DOJ's Eastern District of New York office have requested interviews and documents from DCG and Genesis, the report said, while the SEC appears to be in a similarly early stage of its own inquiry. The report, which cited people familiar with the matter, said that neither Genesis nor DCG, which is also the parent company to CoinDesk, have "been accused of wrongdoing." |
Solana (SOL) and cardano (ADA) outpaced the broader crypto market amid signs of recovery over the weekend. SOL and ADA were up over 15% on Monday morning, before seeing a slight price retreat as traders took profits. Solana was buoyed over the past week as some projects – most notably the Shiba Inu-themed Bonk (BONK) – saw massive hype and adoption within the ecosystem. On-chain data shows daily active users of Solana increased by over 40% in the past two weeks, from nearly 300,000 users in late December to over 525,000 wallets as of Monday. Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager has defended its $1 billion plan to sell assets to Binance.US, calling criticisms "hypocrisy and chutzpah" based on unverified speculation, two legal filings posted late Sunday night show. The plan has been opposed by Alameda Research, the trading arm of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, as well as the SEC, DOJ and numerous state-level regulators, with a hearing due to be held at a New York bankruptcy court on Tuesday. |
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Market Insight: Traders Bet on Ether Slide
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Early Monday, the large order was partially filled for 40,000 contracts while 10,000 contracts were yet to be filled. (Deribit) |
During the bull market of early 2021, hyper bullish bets on bitcoin and ether often crossed the tape on the leading crypto options exchange, Deribit. Two years later the opposite is happening, with market participants betting on an extended slide in ether. Last week, a buy order for 50,000 contracts of ether's $400-strike price put option expiring in June appeared on Deribit's order book, raising alarm bells in the crypto community. At press time, ether was priced around $1,300, so the put buyer is expecting a 69% slide in less than six months. On Deribit, one ether options contract represents one ETH. "On ether, the trade that made the most talk was the purchase of puts $400 on June 2023 made on-screen with a resting bid of 50k contracts," digital assets data provider Amberdata said in its weekly newsletter published Sunday. |
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- The chart shows the seven-day moving average of blockchain analytics firm Glassnode's miner position change metric going back to November 2021. The metric gauges the 30-day change in bitcoin held in miners' addresses.
- The metric has recently turned positive in a sign of renewed holding by those responsible for mining the cryptocurrency.
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Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments. |
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