BTC is currently trading around $64,000 and ETH around $3,150. Notable gainers in the last 24 hours are NEO, BTT, and LTC. The global crypto market cap is $2.48T down 1.1% over the last day. DeFi Total Value Locked is ~$93b and BTC dominance is around 55%.
Crypto prices are generally unchanged as strong tech earnings from Alphabet/Microsoft and rising equity prices are being offset by accelerating spot Bitcoin ETF outflows and worries around economic growth and inflation. The Fed may now be in a tight spot as US GDP rose at a 1.6% annualized pace in 1Q, far below the 2.4% expected, while both headline and core PCE inflation came in slightly higher than expected in March. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan maintained interest rates near zero and reiterated guidance around its government bond buying program, though some were disappointed with the lack of forward commentary.
In asset management news, Reuters reported that the SEC is expected to reject the spot Ethereum ETF applications in May, citing industry insiders; the SEC delayed its decision on allowing options on the spot Bitcoin ETFs and launched another round of consultations; mainland China investors won’t be able to buy the Hong Kong spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, according to Bloomberg; BlackRock’s IBIT snapped its 71-day inflow streak; asset manager Franklin Templeton enabled holders of its tokenized money market fund to swap BENJI directly with one another on Polygon and Stellar; and, Pantera is looking to raise $1b for a new crypto fund.
In regulatory news, the EU formally passed new anti-money laundering regulation applicable to all crypto asset service providers; a new UK law took effect making it easier for law enforcement to seize crypto; the US DOJ arrested the founders of privacy-focused crypto wallet Samourai; and, Ethereum development firm Consensys sued the SEC alleging that the SEC overstepped its authority in trying to regulate Ethereum.
Elsewhere, notable news includes: payments services provider Stripe announced it will support global stablecoin payments this summer; the CBOE announced it will wind down its spot crypto trading service; crypto custodian Anchorage unveiled a new settlement network called Atlas; Bitcoin-centric payment app Strike launched in Europe; ETH inflation flipped positive after five months of deflation; layer 1 blockchain Algorand is adopting Python as its main programming language; Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, zkSync, and Starkware are said to be preparing to integration Avail’s data availability solution; Chainlink completed the general availability launch of its Cross Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP); Renzo’s ezETH liquid restaking token briefly depegged; and, an alien CryptoPunk sold for $12.5m.
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Author:
Brian Rudick, Senior Strategist | Twitter, Telegram, LinkedIn
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