1. Market Wrap: Bitcoin Stays Near $55K as Ether Hits Brand-New Record Price
Bitcoin’s stagnant market is due to investors continuing to explore other cryptocurrencies, says one trader.
The story of boring bitcoin and exciting ether continued in the cryptocurrency markets Wednesday.
Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $54,925 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Gaining 0.14% over the previous 24 hours.
Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $54,046-$55,710
BTC above the 10-hour and the 50-hour moving averages on the hourly chart, a bullish signal for market technicians.
Bitcoin’s price was holding steady on Wednesday, showing little change over the past 24 hours. At around 02:30 UTC (9 p.m. ET Tuesday), the world’s largest cryptocurrency went as high as $55,710. It then lost steam and returned to the $54,000 level but was at $54,925 as of press time.
Over-the-counter crypto trader Alessandro Andreotti says bitcoin’s stagnant market is due to investors continuing to explore other cryptocurrencies. “Bitcoin has, in fact, gone up, but I see it as a consolidation move to a new price range,” Andreotti said. “It’s staying relatively stable right now while alts moon.”
2. Federal Reserve Keeps Rates Near Zero, Maintains Asset Purchases, Sees Inflation as ‘Transitory’
The Federal Reserve kept monetary policy unchanged and sees inflation as temporary, which is closely watched by bitcoin investors.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it would keep the benchmark U.S. interest rate near zero and keep buying assets at a rate of $120 billion a month.
“Amid progress on vaccinations and strong policy support, indicators of economic activity and employment have strengthened. The sectors most adversely affected by the [coronavirus] pandemic remain weak but have shown improvement,” according to the Fed’s statement.
“Overall financial conditions remain accommodative, in part reflecting policy measures to support the economy and the flow of credit to U.S. households and businesses,” the U.S. central bank said.
3. Binance’s Stock Tokens May Violate Law, Germany’s Financial Watchdog Says
BaFin said the stock tokens tracking Tesla, Coinbase and MicroStrategy have been identified as “suspicious” and the exchange could be fined up to $6 million.
Germany’s Financial Supervisory Authority BaFin has warned investors the cryptocurrency exchange Binance may have violated European securities rules with the launch of its stock tokens.
In an announcement Wednesday, BaFin said the Binance stock tokens tracking the movement of shares in Tesla, Coinbase and MicroStrategy have been identified as “suspicious” and require a prospectus that wasn’t issued prior to trading.
BaFin said the cryptocurrency exchange has violated the prospectus obligation under Article 3 Paragraph 1 of the European Prospectus Regulation.
According to BaFin, the violation of the prospectus constitutes an administrative offense and can be punished with a fine of up to €5 million ($6 million) or 3% of Binance’s annual revenue.
Elsewhere red flags have already been raised by Hong Kong law firms regarding the Binance stock tokens launched earlier this month.
On April 22, the Financial Times reported that U.K.’s regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, is “working with the firm [Binance] to understand the product, the regulations that may apply to it and how it is marketed.”
The stock tokens allow Binance customers to purchase as little as one-hundredth of a regular share using Binance USD (BUSD), a U.S. dollar stablecoin issued by the exchange.
Binance was contacted for comment, but didn’t immediately respond at the time of publication.
4. Dogecoin Miners Revenue Up 4,500% This Year
Daily miner revenue has risen above $3 million this week.
The dogecoin (DOGE) army is not the only one making a killing this year. Miners responsible for generating the Shiba Inu-themed cryptocurrency may also be laughing their way to the bank.
The daily revenue of dogecoin miners rose to a record high of $3.6 million on April 26, marking a 4,575% rise from the New Year’s day tally of $77,000, blockchain data provided by ByteTree shows.
Revenue estimates assume miners, who operate predominantly on cash, sell their coins immediately.
Miners receive newly created coins and transaction processing fees as a reward for mining blocks and processing transactions on the distributed ledger.
5. European Investment Bank Issues $121M Digital Notes Using Ethereum
Goldman Sachs, Banco Santander SA and Societe Generale AG served as joint managers.
The European Investment Bank (EIB), the lending arm of the European Union, used Ethereum technology to issue €100 million ($121 million) in two-year digital notes for the first time, the EIB said in a statement.
Goldman Sachs, Banco Santander SA and Societe Generale AG served as joint managers for the notes, issued on April 28.
The EIB said the transaction is a series of bond tokens on a blockchain, where investors purchase and pay for the security tokens using traditional fiat.
The notes have a zero percent coupon and will be registered on the blockchain, according to a Bloomberg report.
The number of banks joining the club for state-backed blockchain bond issuance has been expanding. In September, according to reports, the Bank of Thailand launched a blockchain-enabled platform for the issuance of government saving bonds.
In November, the China Construction Bank (CCB) tapped Labuan-based digital asset exchange Fusang for the issuance of $3 billion worth of debt securities over a blockchain.
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April 29, 2021
