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CoinPriceMarketcapVolume (24h)Last 24h
bitcoin
Bitcoin
BTC
$ 39,820.25$ 730.04 B$ 82.04 B

GoldenTree Asset Management, a New York-based with $45 billion under management, has been adding an undisclosed bitcoin (BTC, -0.49%) to its balance sheet, according a report by The Street, which cited two unnamed sources.

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  • With the purchase, the credit-focused firm company has become the latest Wall Street firm to become involved in the largest cryptocurrency.
  • GoldenTree, which is run by founder and Chief Investment Officer Steven Tananbaum, is considering hiring experts in cryptocurrency investments as it turns its attention to the industry, the report said.

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GoldenTree Asset Management, a New York-based with $45 billion under management, has been adding an undisclosed bitcoin (BTC, -4.93%) to its balance sheet, according a report by The Street, which cited two unnamed sources.

0
  • With the purchase, the credit-focused firm company has become the latest Wall Street firm to become involved in the largest cryptocurrency.
  • GoldenTree, which is run by founder and Chief Investment Officer Steven Tananbaum, is considering hiring experts in cryptocurrency investments as it turns its attention to the industry, the report said.

Read More

GoldenTree Asset Management, a New York-based with $45 billion under management, has been adding an undisclosed bitcoin (BTC, -3.84%) to its balance sheet, according a report by The Street, which cited two unnamed sources.

0
  • With the purchase, the credit-focused firm company has become the latest Wall Street firm to become involved in the largest cryptocurrency.
  • GoldenTree, which is run by founder and Chief Investment Officer Steven Tananbaum, is considering hiring experts in cryptocurrency investments as it turns its attention to the industry, the report said.

Read More

Moody’s downgraded El Salvador’s rating and continued its negative view on the country’s economy partly because of the government’s passage of a law that will make Bitcoin legal tender in the country, the rating agency announced Friday.

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  • In its ratings action, Moody’s lowered El Salvador’s long-term, foreign-currency issuer and senior unsecured ratings to Caa1 from B3.
  • Noting a “deterioration in the quality of policymaking,” the agency said that the Bitcoin law and other measures reflected “weakened governance in El Salvador, raising tensions with international partners – including the United States – and jeopardizing progress toward an agreement with the IMF (International Monetary Fund).”
  • The ratings action added that the combined factors could increase the risk to El Salvador’s ability “to access sufficient external financing ahead of bond redemptions,” starting in January 2023.
  • The Bitcoin law, which goes into effect Sept. 7, requires merchants to accept Bitcoin along with the U.S. dollar.
  • The law passed by a supermajority in El Salvador’s legislature on June 9, with 62 members voting in favor of the bill, 19 opposing and three abstaining, but it has also faced stiff dissent with some opponents arguing it violates El Salvador’s constitution.
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Bitcoin faced selling pressure on Friday after Deribit, the world’s largest crypto options exchange by volume and open interest, settled monthly options contracts worth $1.6 billion.

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The cryptocurrency slipped from $39,800 to $38,500 after 08:00 UTC, the designated settlement time on Deribit. A total of 41,000 contracts expired, of which 22,000 were calls options, and the rest were put options, according to Deribit data.

While the exact nature of the expiry-related flows is not known yet, prices frequently become more volatile after expiry.

Option expiries have gained prominence this year, with the cryptocurrency gravitating toward the so-called max pain point in the lead-up to settlement, and seeing notable directional activity post-expiry. That point is the strike price at which the most open options contracts expire worthlessly. Sellers, typically institutions, try to push prices closer to the max pain point to minimize their losses.

“There is always additional activity before and just after the expiry, especially for relatively larger ones like the July expiry,” Luuk Strijers, chief commercial officer at Deribit, told CoinDesk.

During the bull run, bitcoin (BTC, -2.65%) consistently saw pullbacks toward the max pain point ahead of expiry and resumed gains following settlement, as seen below.

“When BTC was bullish, we’d see a sell-off & volatility increase during expiry week, then pump at expiry,” an options and algo trader who goes as Altcoin Psycho tweeted Thursday. “This time, it’s been the opposite. If price dumps after expiry, that may be a sign that we go lower.”

The overall market mood has been bearish since the beginning of the month, and prices dipped below the critical support of $30,000 on July 20. The cryptocurrency bounced well above the July expiry max pain point of $35,000 earlier this week, and is again facing downward pressure after the expiry.

Data shared by analytics firm Laevitas via Discord shows there has been notable call-option selling at higher strikes after 08:00 UTC.

Investors typically sell calls, which offer insurance against bullish moves, when the underlying asset is expected to drop or consolidate.

A call option gives the purchaser the right but not the obligation to buy the underlying asset at a predetermined price on or before a specific date. A put option gives the right to sell.

Bullish flows may return if the cryptocurrency establishes a foothold above the 100-day moving average (SMA) of $40,000. The average has been capping gains since Wednesday.

Also read: Blockchain Data Shows Bitcoin’s Current Price Floor at $37.3K

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Bitcoin traded sideways on Thursday as buyers appeared to be exhausted near the $40,000 resistance level. The cryptocurrency is up about 23% over the past week, a gain driven by improving sentiment and short covering. 

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Some analysts expect bitcoin to remain range-bound as the current rally takes a breather. 

“Our sense is that the market will keep looking to trade within this $30K-$40K range in the near term,” wrote QCP Capital in a Telegram chat. “Into Friday’s month-end expiry, we expect $40K-$42K to hold as the open interest peaks here.”

Latest prices

Cryptocurrencies:

  • Bitcoin (BTC) $39711.8, -1.45%
  • Ether (ETH) $2312.1, +0.2%

Traditional markets:

  • S&P 500: 4419.1, +0.42%
  • Gold: $1828.2, +1.21%
  • 10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.273%, compared with 1.233% on Wednesday

“Price levels to consider are the $40,000 psychological price level, and $44,000, which is the next resistance level BTC saw when Tesla announced they would accept BTC as payment back in February,” Jeffrey Wang, head of Americas at Amber Group, wrote in an email to CoinDesk.

In the bitcoin options market, “there is not much open interest between the $45,000 and $50,000 strikes for the August expiry,” Pankaj Balani, CEO of Delta Exchange, wrote in an email to CoinDesk. “We can see sharp moves here.”

Bitcoin is up about 35% year to date, double the S&P 500’s 17% gain over the same period. Both bitcoin and stocks are beating gold’s 5% loss year to date.

Bitcoin open interest

“Bitcoin open interest has also been picking up, breaking above its June highs and retesting support,” Stack Funds, a Singapore-based crypto asset management firm, wrote in a newsletter Thursday. (See chart below.)   

“Our expectations for a retest towards the mid/low $20K region is less likely,” Stack Funds wrote. The firm mentioned that a clear breakout in open interest is required in order to signal further upside in bitcoin.

Risk management

Although bitcoin remains in a secular bull market, the cryptocurrency has fallen by a minimum of 25% once in every calendar year since 2013, according to Panxora, a crypto investment firm.

“Often that fall averages more than 40% and this kind of drawdown makes cryptocurrency a challenging investment for those that have no way to manage this kind of volatility risk,” Panxora wrote on its website.

When managing risk, crypto investors can consider macro conditions such as economic growth and inflation, which tend to influence the prices of assets in both traditional and crypto markets.

“I think inflation fears will reemerge,” Gavin Smith, CEO of Panxora, said in an interview with CoinDesk. “And I think that will be the catalyst for a true move in the cryptocurrency, certainly bitcoin’s over the next six to nine months.

“From a longer-term perspective, I’m quite bullish on the environment, because what we’ve seen in the downturn is really people pulling away from the inflation narrative that we saw,” Smith said. “Personally, I think it’s too early to pull away from that.”

Smith said that Panxora and other institutions he spoke to are “entering the buy zone.”

“Even if they’re long-term bullish on bitcoin, what they do is they wait for these frequent sell-offs,” Smith said. “And then they use that to start accumulating their holdings, rather than chasing the market higher.”

Altcoin roundup

  • Paxos discloses more investors: Paxos – a provider of blockchain infrastructure – said Bank of America, crypto exchange FTX, Founders Fund and Coinbase Ventures were among a heavyweight list of investors in its $300 million Series D funding round, the firm disclosed on Thursday. Oak HC/FT led the funding round, which the nine-year-old company announced in late April at a valuation of $2.4 billion. The round also included PayPal Ventures and Mithril Capital, among others. The firm has raised more than $540 million over multiple funding rounds.
  • Traders bearish on AXS: Even though AXS, the governance token of Axie Infinity, has logged a year-to-date price return of over 7,000%, compared with bitcoin’s roughly 33% return and ether’s 212% return, some crypto traders are bearish toward the token. “The euphoric-herd mentality pushed the valuation to extremes, and as with any overcrowded trade, once the unwind takes place, the price swings will be extremely volatile,” Denis Vinokourov, head of research at London-based quantitative finance management firm Synergia Capital, told CoinDesk’s Muyao Shen. “The problem is market timing – timing the top of the market – is notoriously difficult.”
  • FET Volatility: The price of Fetch.ai’s native token (FET) has endured a roller-coaster run over the last 24 hours following its listing on the U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase on Wednesday. It is not unusual for a coin being listed on one of the world’s best-known exchanges. Often dubbed the “Coinbase Effect,” the phenomenon is when a cryptocurrency experiences a sharp uptick in price preceding and following its listing. After the listing, though, a crypto’s price tends to cool as speculative traders look to cash in on the hype surrounding the crypto’s new home.
  • Ethereum’s ‘Enterprise’ Play: As Ethereum celebrates its sixth anniversary, Joe Lubin, a co-founder of Ethereum and the CEO of ConsenSys, says the convergence between the public mainnet and corporate versions of the technology are now closer than ever. Lubin, who spoke today at the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) anniversary event alongside Ethereum chief scientist Vitalik Buterin and Web 3.0 leader and angel investor Balaji Srinivasan, pointed to cryptocurrencies, decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) now entering pop culture.

Relevant News:

  • Robinhood Falls in Trading Debut
  • ProFunds Mutual Fund Gives Retails Investors Access to Bitcoin Futures
  • State Street to Provide Crypto Fund Administration Services
  • FTX US Affiliate Sees Record Daily Trading Volume in First Half of 2021
  • Crypto Volatility Index 2.0 Rolled Out With USDC Support

Other markets

Most digital assets on CoinDesk 20 ended up higher on Thursday. 

Notable winners of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):

the graph (GRT) +5.05%

bitcoin cash (BCH) +4.38%

polkadot (DOT) +4.12%

Notable losers:

chainlink (LINK) -2.33%

eos (EOS) -1.71%

algorand (ALGO) -1.01%

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U.S. clients of Compass Mining can now avoid tax on the bitcoin (BTC, -1.05%) they mine by buying mining hardware through their individual retirement accounts (IRAs).

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  • Through an agreement with Choice IRA, a crypto-friendly retirement offering by digital asset custodian Kingdom Trust, Compass clients can mine bitcoin without triggering a taxable event.
  • Compass provides individual miners with a hosting facility and operates their hardware for them, in what could be seen as an Airbnb-esque model for mining facilities.
  • The miners might be discouraged by having to pay tax twice: once as income on the bitcoin they mine and again on the capital gains when they sell.
  • The Compass arrangement allows clients to circumvent this requirement by buying mining hardware with funds in their Choice IRA, which then receives the payouts.

CORRECTION (JULY 29, 16:01 UTC): Corrects that mining hardware needs to be bought through the IRA.

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U.S. clients of Compass Mining can now avoid tax on the bitcoin (BTC, +0.01%) they mine by buying mining hardware through their individual retirement accounts (IRAs).

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  • Through an agreement with Choice IRA, a crypto-friendly retirement offering by digital asset custodian Kingdom Trust, Compass clients can mine bitcoin without triggering a taxable event.
  • Compass provides individual miners with a hosting facility and operates their hardware for them, in what could be seen as an Airbnb-esque model for mining facilities.
  • The miners might be discouraged by having to pay tax twice: once as income on the bitcoin they mine and again on the capital gains when they sell.
  • The Compass arrangement allows clients to circumvent this requirement by buying mining hardware with funds in their Choice IRA, which then receives the payouts.

CORRECTION (JULY 29, 16:01 UTC): Corrects that mining hardware needs to be bought through the IRA.

Read More

U.S. clients of Compass Mining can now avoid tax on the bitcoin (BTC, +1.57%) they mine by buying mining hardware through their individual retirement accounts (IRAs).

0
  • Through an agreement with Choice IRA, a crypto-friendly retirement offering by digital asset custodian Kingdom Trust, Compass clients can mine bitcoin without triggering a taxable event.
  • Compass provides individual miners with a hosting facility and operates their hardware for them, in what could be seen as an Airbnb-esque model for mining facilities.
  • The miners might be discouraged by having to pay tax twice: once as income on the bitcoin they mine and again on the capital gains when they sell.
  • The Compass arrangement allows clients to circumvent this requirement by buying mining hardware with funds in their Choice IRA, which then receives the payouts.

CORRECTION (JULY 29, 16:01 UTC): Corrects that mining hardware needs to be bought through the IRA.

Read More

Bitcoin buyers are in profit-taking mode as the cryptocurrency tests the $40,000 resistance level. Sentiment has significantly improved over the past week, although some analysts think it’s time for a pause before another leg higher.

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“BTC easily broke through $35K, but I think it will probably have a harder time going through $40K this time,” Justin Chuh, a senior trader at Wave Financial, wrote in an email to CoinDesk.

“Miners & sellers are coming in to cash out once more and buyers unable to push it higher after absorbing that hit,” Chuh wrote.

Latest prices

Cryptocurrencies:

  • Bitcoin (BTC) $40328, +6.56%
  • Ether (ETH) $2308.8, +3.27%

Traditional markets:

  • S&P 500: 4403.9, +0.056%
  • Gold: $1808.1, +0.5%
  • 10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.233%, compared with 1.238%

Moving average watch

Sentiment can easily shift from bullish to bearish as bitcoin remains in a consolidation phase with strong overhead resistance.

“BTC was already rejected again by its 200-day moving average, just like in early June, but it should try again after a breather, and hopefully not crawling lower than $35K,” Chuh wrote. 

“If (and when) bitcoin does cross the 200-day, this will signal confidence in the market and demonstrate to many players that the bulls have regained control of the market,” Alexandra Clark, a trader at U.K.-based digital-asset broker GlobalBlock, wrote in an email to CoinDesk.

For now, trading activity is sharply higher compared with June. Short-dated call options were actively traded Wednesday morning as bitcoin approached $40,000, according to data from Skew.

GBTC discount narrows

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares have narrowed their discount relative to the underlying cryptocurrency held in the fund – possibly a sign that buyers are using the vehicle to bet on the recent recovery rally in digital-asset markets.

The GBTC shares traded at a discount of 6.6% to net asset value (NAV) on Tuesday, the smallest margin since June 22, based on data provided by the crypto derivatives research firm Skew. The discount had widened to 15% in mid-June. 

Some investors may have snapped up GBTC shares in hopes that the discount will evaporate with a bull revival in bitcoin. In that scenario, the buyers would reap any price gains on bitcoin while pocketing extra profit from a narrowing of the discount. (Grayscale Investments, which manages the trust, is a unit of Digital Currency Group, which also owns CoinDesk.)

Ether trading volumes surge

The ether market grew three times faster than the bitcoin market did in the first six months of the year as large investors diversified into the native token of Ethereum’s blockchain, according to crypto exchange Coinbase’s half-yearly review published on Monday.

Crypto CEOs are bullish

Crypto investors have just endured one of the toughest quarters on record. Despite a recent rebound, fears of overregulation, a clampdown on mining in China and environmental concerns have all contributed to negative sentiment in the sector. Most CoinDesk 20 assets, which constitute about 99% of the crypto market by verifiable volume, finished the second quarter with negative returns. 

The CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (XBX) fell 40%, its third-worst quarter ever. Conversely, the CoinDesk Ether Price Index (ETX) ended the quarter up 18.7%. While bitcoin has recovered some of its losses, the level of optimism is far from what it was at the start of the second quarter.

Some crypto CEOs, however, still expect a six-figure bitcoin price, saying that the medium-term outlook for the crypto market is positive, even if sentiment is not, CoinDesk’s Will Canny reports. 

Why stablecoins are in the spotlight

Stablecoins have existed for roughly seven years, but talk about them has never been as heated as in recent weeks, not only within the crypto community but also among regulators and traditional market investors. 

Much has been going on the world of stablecoins recently, and some of it can be overwhelming. Here are the three big things happening now:

  • Tether is under a cloud: As the most traded cryptocurrency in the market, USDT has become a backbone for the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. Over half of all bitcoin trades are made against it. However, Tether, the company behind the digital token, has been plagued by regulatory issues.
  • Regulatory heat: Stablecoins had a total market capitalization of $116 billion as of Monday, an almost fourfold increase since the start of this year, according to CoinMarketCap. As growth has increased, so has the attention from U.S. and other regulators. 
  • Circle going public, other stablecoin issuers disclose more info: Circle, the issuer of USDC, the second largest stablecoin, has also been in the spotlight. Circle plans to go public through a merger with Concord Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC). The deal would value the crypto financial services firm at $4.5 billion. Another stablecoin issuer, Paxos, also released for the first time a breakdown of reserves for its stablecoins, Paxos standard and the Binance-labeled BUSD. Some 96% of the reserves was held in cash and cash equivalents, while 4% was invested in U.S. Treasury bills as of June 30.

Altcoin roundup

  • XRP rallies: XRP, a cryptocurrency used by Ripple in its payments network, rallied to a five-week high on Wednesday after the company said it is targeting the $1.8 billion Filipino remittance market. The cryptocurrency changed hands at $0.74 during the European hours, hitting its highest level since June 21 and representing a 13% gain on the day, according to CoinDesk 20 data. 
  • Ether Trading Volume Surges: Ether’s trading volume totaled $1.4 trillion in the January-to-June period, a 1,461% rise from $92 billion observed in the first half of last year.
  • Burger King Brazil accepts dogecoin: Burger King Brazil now accepts dogecoin (DOGE, +2.64%) as a payment method to purchase the fast-food chain’s Dogpper, a dog snack. The service has been available since Monday, according to the company’s official website, though users should check the availability of delivery in their region, the company said. Each Dogpper – a dog treat that plays on the name of Burger King’s best-known menu item, the Whopper – costs 3 DOGE. The company recommends purchasing a maximum of five units per order for “availability reasons.” 

Relevant News:

  • Luxor Technologies Launches Index of Crypto Mining Stocks
  • Mining Difficulty Expected to Increase for the First Time Since China Crackdown
  • UBS Mulls Offering Prime Brokerage Services for Crypto ETPs to European Hedge Funds: Sources
  • Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Discount Narrows as ‘Unlocks’ Pass
  • FTX Renames Blockfolio Trading App to … FTX
  • Robinhood Under Investigation for Finra Registration Violation

Other markets

Most digital assets on CoinDesk 20 ended up higher on Wednesday. 

Notable winners of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):

xrp (XRP) +12.51%

eos (EOS) +6.43%

uniswap (UNI) +4.77%

Notable losers 

the graph  (GRT) -0.31%

yearn Finance (YFI) -0.23%

USD Coin (USDC) -0.06%

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