Crypto Daily News from ZBG Exchange

1. Market Wrap: Traders Seek Protection as Crypto and Stocks Dip on US Debt Ceiling Impasse

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were lower on the threat of yet another federal government shutdown.

Cryptocurrencies were mostly lower on Tuesday, tracking losses in equities after the U.S. Senate failed to act to extend the debt ceiling and avoid a partial federal government shutdown as soon as Oct.15.

The 10-year Treasury bond yield rose to 1.50%, the highest level since June, accompanied by a rally in the dollar as investors position themselves for a potential government default. When bond yields go up the bond price falls, and vice versa.

“In equities, we are about to enter the most dangerous month of the year — October has been the month where crashes and major corrections take place,” Charlie Silver, CEO of Permission.io told.

“Crypto is vacillating between resistance and support, waiting for regulatory clarity in the U.S. and central bank moves around the Chinese debt crisis,” Silver wrote, referring to the turmoil over real estate developer Evergrande.

Bitcoin was trading around $41,000 at press time and is down nearly 3% over the past 24 hours, compared to a loss of over 3% in ether over the same period.

Latest Prices

Bitcoin (BTC), $41,814, -2.5%

Ether (ETH), $2,871, -3.4%

S&P 500: -2.0%

Gold: $1,734, -0.9%

10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.548%

Ether option expirations

Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, dipped below $3,000 this week, causing some traders to seek ways of cutting their losses.

The trading volume of ETH put options expiring on Oct. 8 has soared, according to data from Deribit, a crypto futures and options exchange. A large number of put options is seen around the $2,700 price level, which, if breached, can trigger long liquidations. A put option is a contract giving the owner the right, but not the obligation, to sell, or sell short, a specified amount of an underlying security at a pre-determined price within a specified time frame.

For now, technical charts show initial support for ether at the 100-day moving average, currently around $2,760, although upside momentum has significantly slowed.

“The market aggressively paid for over 13,000x contracts of Oct. 8 ETH puts since Asia morning, and front-end risk reversal skewed heavily toward puts once again,” crypto trading firm QCP Capital wrote in a Telegram announcement.

2. Ahead of Crackdown, Huobi Scrambled to Move Staff Out of China, Insiders Say

Interviews with former and current employees shine new light on the crypto exchange’s complicated relationship with its home country.

Months before China’s latest crackdown, the Huobi Global cryptocurrency exchange relocated substantial parts of its operations out of the country, primarily to crypto-friendly Singapore, former and current employees told us.

Huobi had been trying to develop overseas operations since China’s earlier clampdown on crypto exchanges in September 2017. The following month, the company set up a separate legal entity in Singapore.

But senior management and a portion of its staff continued to operate in China, until May of this year.

Since then, considerable parts of operations such as business development and marketing began moving overseas, while the less-controversial technical teams remained in China, the current and former employees said.

That way, it would look like Huobi’s company in China was just a tech provider for a crypto exchange that was headquartered and operated abroad, potentially shielding the company from another crackdown, one of the sources said.

3. Switzerland’s SEBA Bank Snags First FINMA License for Liquid Crypto Funds

Easy in, easy out. SEBA Bank CEO Guido Buehler thinks the license will attract more investment.

SEBA Bank has been given permission by regulators to offer digital assets to Swiss-domiciled mutual funds, the first such license to be granted in Switzerland, according to the cryptocurrency-focused financial services firm.

Announced Wednesday, the license granted to SEBA by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) allows the firm to act as a custodian bank, and constitutes a new enabler of liquid investment funds with crypto, said SEBA Bank CEO Guido Buehler. Typically, crypto funds use alternative structures that come with a lock-in and costs for clients to get in or out.

“This collective investment scheme license allows institutional clients, and then later retail clients, to invest into crypto assets on a liquid basis through fund structures,” Buehler told us in an interview, adding:

“It means there is now the opportunity for institutions to establish their fund structures for crypto as a liquid asset, so people can subscribe today and can sell tomorrow.”

Global context

Cryptocurrency markets across the world may be depressed due to oncoming U.S. regulation or China’s latest crackdown, but Switzerland, with its regulatory clarity, seems to march to the beat of its own drum.

In terms of how asset managers will respond, Buehler estimates crypto should make up around the same tranche size in portfolios as gold going into 2022 — around 3%.

In order to get this license, SEBA had to work with an asset manager, in this case, Switzerland’s Crypto Broker, part of Crypto Finance AG. On the custody side of things, SEBA is developing its own cold storage vault with the help of custody tech partners Fireblocks (which recently opened an office in Switzerland) and Switzerland-based Taurus.

“Institutional adoption is only at the beginning since a lot of institutional capabilities are still lagging the market demand,” Buehler said.

4. Thailand’s Tourism Authority Floats Idea of Utility Token to Attract Crypto Holders

If developed, the token’s utility could facilitate the transfer of vouchers into TAT Coin, boosting liquidity among tourism operators.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is exploring the possibility of minting its own utility token in a bid to cultivate crypto revenue from visitors.

TAT is reportedly in discussions with the Stock Exchange of Thailand over the introduction of TAT Coin and is weighing the regulatory and feasibility aspects of such a project, the Bangkok Post reported Tuesday.

The authority’s governor, Yuthasak Supasorn, said Thailand had to “prepare” its digital infrastructure as well as digital literacy for its tourism operators as it related to crypto.

“The traditional business model might not be able to keep up with the new changes,” said Yuthasak.

If developed, the token’s utility could facilitate the transfer of vouchers into TAT Coin, boosting liquidity among tourism operators. It may also signal to the rest of the crypto world that Thailand’s tourism sector is back open for business as it attempts to grapple with the after-effects of COVID-19.

Thailand will lift its mandatory quarantine requirement in Bangkok and nine regions from Nov. 1 for those that have been fully vaccinated, Reuters reported Monday.

Thailand’s TAT is an agency under the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Its objective is to promote the country’s tourism industry and protect the environment.

Discussions with relevant authorities, including the country’s Ministry of Finance, will need to be conducted in order to determine if the agency has the power to issue such a token, according to the report.

5. Payment Network Affirm Will Allow Customers to Buy and Sell Crypto

Affirm Holdings shared the plans in a presentation that the company posted on its website.

Affirm Holdings Inc., the publicly traded provider of payment services, plans to allow customers to buy and sell crypto, according to a presentation posted Tuesday on the company’s website.

The fintech company made the announcement as part of its Investor Forum.

The news was first reported by Bloomberg.

Affirm joins other companies such as PayPal, which last year gave customers the ability to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency. Last month, PayPal extended its crypto service to the U.K., allowing customers to buy, sell and hold four different cryptocurrencies on its platform.

For its recently completed 2021 fiscal year, Affirm notched revenues of $870.5 million, a 71% increase over the previous year.

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September 29, 2021