1. Market Wrap: Bitcoin in Pullback Mode as Regulatory Concerns Rise
Bitcoin is declining as regulatory concerns rise; ether is holding support.
Bitcoin extended its pullback on Tuesday as buyers continue to take profits from the $40,000 resistance level. The cryptocurrency was trading around $38,000 at press time and is down about 4% over the past week. Ongoing regulatory concerns in the U.S. and China have kept some bitcoin buyers on the sidelines, with lower support seen around $34,000 to $36,000.
“We expect the pullback to mature in one to two weeks near the 50-day moving average around $34K, after which bitcoin is likely to clear $42.6K for a revised upside target near $51K,” wrote Katie Stockton, managing director of Fairlead Strategies, in a Monday newsletter.
Latest prices
Cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin (BTC) $38,077 -3.08%
Ether (ETH) $2,468.5 -4.88%
Traditional markets:
S&P 500: 4423.3, +0.82%
Gold: $1810.4, -0.13%
10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.181%, compared with 1.173% on Monday
Ether in the lead
Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has broken out of a two-month consolidation relative to bitcoin. The ETH/BTC ratio faces initial resistance near 0.07, and a decisive break above that level could yield further upside towards 0.08.
2. USDT Usage on Ethereum Shifts Away From Asia Daytime Hours
The changing trading patterns in USDT might be the result of China’s recent crackdown on cryptocurrency mining and trading.
The Tether stablecoin USDT’s daily usage on the Ethereum blockchain has shifted slightly later in the day from Asian business hours toward European and U.S. market hours, possibly because of China’s crackdown on cryptocurrency trading and USDT users’ migration to other blockchains, a new report suggests.
Last year, most USDT (-0.04%) activity on Ethereum happened between 2:00 and 14:00 coordinated universal time, and during that time, the period from 6:00 to 8:00 UTC was the busiest, according to the report by blockchain-analysis firm Coin Metrics. This year, however, there has been less usage from 2:00 to 6:00 UTC and more from 15:00 to 20:00 UTC.
Investors can trade crypto 24 hours, seven days a week, but local stock exchange times can be used as a proxy for when traders in any given region are active.
Several factors could have contributed to the shift of USDT’s daily usage pattern on Ethereum, according to Coin Metrics, including that some trading activity has shifted to other blockchains that offer lower fees than Ethereum, such as Tron and Solana.
Also, as China reiterated its crypto ban and started cracking down on crypto mining in May, the migration of crypto miners and investors may have led to a drop in Asia-based USDT activity. That migration, however, wouldn’t explain the changes before May, Coin Metrics noted.
3. Crypto Tax Proposal in US Has Had Limited Impact on Bitcoin Market
Enactment of the bill, if it is passed and signed into law, is still far off.
On the face of it, a U.S. bill proposing to raise $28 billion through extra cryptocurrency taxes might unnerve some bitcoin investors. But so far, the market reaction to the bill has been remarkably muted.
Last Wednesday, lawmakers drafting a bipartisan infrastructure bill in Congress proposed to raise $28 billion in extra crypto taxes by applying new information-reporting requirements to exchanges and other providers of crypto services.
According to a draft of the bill, any broker who transfers any digital assets will need to file a return under a modified information reporting regime. That would enable the Internal Revenue Service to collect taxes already owed on capital gains from sales of digital assets.
Given how digital-asset markets often react fairly quickly to news announcements — the recent rumor that Amazon would accept bitcoin as a form of payment being one example — the bill’s plan for the extra crypto taxes has so far had little impact on bitcoin prices.
4. SEC Chairman Gensler Agrees With Predecessor: ‘Every ICO Is a Security’
Gensler said he believes crypto trading platforms might already have securities listed.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler said he believes the vast majority of crypto tokens and initial coin offerings (ICOs) violate U.S. securities laws.
In a speech at the Aspen Security Forum on Tuesday, Gensler said he agreed with Jay Clayton, his predecessor at the SEC, who once famously said that in his view, “every ICO I’ve seen is a security.”
“Generally, folks buying these tokens are anticipating profits, and there’s a small group of entrepreneurs and technologists standing up and nurturing the projects,” Gensler said in prepared remarks. “I believe we have a crypto market now where many tokens may be unregistered securities, without required disclosures or market oversight.”
These tokens may allow markets to be manipulated, which in turn could harm investors, the regulator said.
5. Spain Opposition Party Introduces Bill to Allow Mortgage Payments With Crypto
Presented by the opposition leading party, Partido Popular, the project also includes the creation of a national crypto assets council.
Partido Popular (PP), the leading opposition party in Spain, has introduced a bill that would allow for the payment of mortgages with cryptocurrencies and create a national crypto assets council to analyze the implications of the use of crypto and blockchain in that country.
According to the text of the “Digital Transformation Law,” homeowners would be able to use cryptocurrencies to pay their mortgages, while the real estate sector would be able to use crypto to invest in mortgage pools. Banks, on the other hand, would be able to use blockchain as a system to manage mortgages and insurance, and streamline the payment of indemnities with digital currencies.
According to the PP, the bill seeks to ensure that transactions with cryptocurrencies “are carried out in a framework of trust, security and transparency.”
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