Trading Desk Market Update: 11/8

November 8, 2021

BTC is currently trading around $65,700 and ETH close to $4,750 after reaching an all-time high of $4,782 several hours ago.  Notable gainers in the last 24 hours are LRC, CRO, and AVAX. The global crypto market cap crossed $3.0T for the first time, increasing 3.3% over the last day.  DeFi Total Value Locked is ~$270b and BTC dominance is around 44%.

On Friday night the US House of Representatives voted to pass the $1.2T bipartisan infrastructure bill, which had passed the Senate in August and now heads to the President for signing.  The bill contains controversial tax reporting requirements for cryptocurrency transactions, expanding the definition of a broker for IRS purposes and potentially capturing a broad swath of the industry, including miners and other parties that don’t facilitate transactions. A second provision in the bill amending tax code section 60501, which revolves around reporting detailed information for large transactions to the government, is also causing concern, given crypto compliance difficulties and the fact that violations are a felony.  The Treasury department still has to explain how it plans to interpret the bill and publish guidance for businesses to comply with it.

Despite this, the global cryptocurrency market cap surpassed $3 trillion today, reaching an all-time high.  The prior peak earlier this year was $2.6T in May before it fell to $1.2T in July on the back of China’s mining crackdown.  Notable gainers over the last 24 hours in the top ten include BTC (+6%), ETH (+3%), XRP (+5%), and DOGE (+5%).  Falling real bond yields and Bitcoin’s upcoming Taproot upgrade may be fueling the rise. 

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