1. Market Wrap: Bullish Basel News Causes BTC Jump to Week-High $38K Level; ETH Slips
Bitcoin busted out a quick 5% gain early Thursday on positive news from that continent before losing some steam.
Bitcoin has returned to the spotlight on positive cryptocurrency banking news out of Europe. Ether’s shine is diminishing a bit Thursday based on some volume, volatility and options data.
Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $36,732 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Up 1% over the previous 24 hours.
Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $36,250-$38,200
Ether (ETH) trading around $2,465 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). In the red 3.8% over the previous 24 hours.
Ether’s 24-hour range: $2,462-$2,617
Bitcoin over $38K, then loses momentum
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was up Thursday by 1% as of press time. The price was below the 10-hour moving average but above the 50-hour, a sideways signal for market technicians.
The price of bitcoin climbed from $36,304 at 09:15 UTC (5:15 a.m. ET) to $38,200 by 10:45 UTC (6:45 a.m. ET), a 5.2% gain in less than two hours. Bitcoin then lost steam, down to $36,732 as of press time.
2. Arrington Capital Launches $100M Algorand Ecosystem Fund
The TechCrunch founder’s second crypto fund will bet on Algorand projects and coins. But don’t think the firm is abandoning XRP.
Michael Arrington’s crypto venture-capital firm, Arrington Capital Management, is launching a $100 million fund for bets on projects building on the Algorand blockchain.
Called the Arrington Algo Growth Fund (AAGF), the fund will invest in tokens and equity, Arrington, the founder of the TechCrunch blog, told us. It is Arringtonl’s second crypto-focused fund after the flagship Arrington XRP (-5.6%) Capital Fund, which in March reported $236.7 million in assets.
Arrington Capital now has over $1 billion in assets under management, according to a press release.
3. Gold Tokens Take Off as Inflation Accelerates, Bitcoin Retreats
The market cap of gold-backed tokens has surged 30-fold since the start of 2020, according to one research firm.
As bitcoin loses some of its luster as “digital gold,” some cryptocurrency investors are apparently seeing value in tokens backed by the physical version of the yellow metal.
According to data compiled by Arcane Research, the total market capitalization of gold-backed tokens has grown 30-fold since the start of 2020, reflecting a surge in demand.
In particular, pax gold (PAXG), a token launched in September 2019 by the New York-based stablecoin issuer Paxos under the Ethereum blockchain’s ERC-20 standard, has seen steep growth in recent months. Its market capitalization has surpassed that of tether gold (XAUT), another gold-backed cryptocurrency from Tether, the dominant stablecoin issuer.
4. Republican Senator Asks FinCEN to Reconsider Controversial Crypto Rule
The FinCEN rule, proposed under former President Donald Trump, needs to be revisited, Sen. Pat Toomey said Thursday.
Proposed U.S. regulation around cryptocurrencies might be counterproductive, the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee said Thursday.
A proposed Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) counterparty rule would impose a heavy burden on cryptocurrency firms but may not actually combat illicit activity, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
He also described draft Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidance as “concerning,” noting it contradicted existing FinCEN guidance.
5. El Salvador’s Bitcoin Bill Raises ‘Issues’: IMF Spokesperson
Gerry Rice said El Salvador’s plan to adopt bitcoin as legal tender raises “macroeconomic, financial and legal issues.”
International Monetary Fund (IMF) spokesman Gerry Rice said the organization is following developments in El Salvador “closely” ahead of a meeting with the nation’s officials on Thursday.
The IMF believes El Salvador’s move to adopt bitcoin (BTC, -1.94%) as legal tender raises various issues, the spokesperson said. Earlier this week the Central American country became the first in the world to recognize the cryptocurrency as legal tender and mandate its acceptance across all businesses.
Rice said on Thursday that “adoption of bitcoin as legal tender raises a number of macroeconomic, financial and legal issues that require very careful analysis so we are following developments closely and will continue our consultation with authorities.”
He added that “crypto assets can pose significant risks, and effective regulatory measures are very important when dealing with them,” Bloomberg reported.
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