Trading Desk Market Update: 5/20

May 20, 2022

BTC is currently trading around $30,300 and ETH around $2,050.  Notable gainers in the last 24 hours are OSMO, ATOM, and AAVE.  The global crypto market cap is $1.35T, up 3.2% over the last day.  DeFi Total Value Locked is ~$112b and BTC dominance is around 45%.

Notable news today includes: a BIS paper suggested distributed ledgers rather than crypto providers should be regulated; top financial officials from the G7 called on the Financial Stability Board to speed up crypto regulation; Panama President Cortizo stated he would not endorse the crypto asset regulation bill passed by the National Assembly citing money laundering concerns; US SEC Commissioner Pierce stated that congress may work more quickly on stablecoin regulations amid the UST collapse; The UK FCA will reportedly consider UST’s collapse when creating its new rules for crypto assets; South Korean prosecutors are reportedly weighing whether they may charge Terra co-founder Do Kwon for running a Ponzi scheme; US House members wrote a letter to Fed Chair Powell seeking more analysis on a possible US CBDC; SWIFT and Capgemini have teamed up to conduct experiments with cross border CBDC payments; a Goldman Sachs report stated the decline in crypto prices is unlikely to impact the US economy; The Commonwealth Bank of Australia paused its plans for a crypto trading service given regulatory uncertainty; Shopify enabled merchants to accept crypto payments via crypto.com; Ethereum developers stated that the network’s merge to proof-of-stake could occur in August; ConsenSys has pushed an upgrade for Ethereum validators ahead of the merge; Ethereum scaling solution Optimism announced an upgrade named Bedrock to improve trading speeds and costs; and, USDT issuer Tether released an attestation report showing the stablecoin is fully backed and that its commercial paper reserves fell 17% since 1Q. 

This material is a product of the GSR Sales and Trading Department. It is not a product of a Research Department, not a research report, and not subject to all of the independence and disclosure standards applicable to research reports prepared pursuant to FINRA or CFTC research rules. This material is not independent of the Firm’s proprietary interests, which may conflict with your interests. The Firm trades instruments discussed in this material for its own account. The author may have consulted with the Firm’s traders and other personnel, who may have already traded based on the views expressed in this material, may trade contrary to the views expressed in this material, and may have positions in other instruments discussed herein. This material is intended only for institutional investors. Solely for purposes of the CFTC’s rules and to the extent this material discusses derivatives, this material is a solicitation for entering into a derivatives transaction and should not be considered to be a derivatives research report.This material is provided solely for informational purposes, is intended for your use only and does not constitute an offer or commitment, a solicitation of an offer or comment (except as noted for CFTC purposes), or any advice or recommendation, to enter into or conclude any transaction (whether on the indicative terms shown or otherwise), or to provide investment services in any state or country where such an offer or solicitation or provision would be illegal. Information is based on sources considered to be reliable, but not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. Any opinions or estimates expressed herein reflect a judgment made as of the date of publication, and are subject to change without notice. Trading and investing in digital assets involves significant risks including price volatility and illiquidity and may not be suitable for all investors. GSR will not be liable whatsoever for any direct or consequential loss arising from the use of this Information. Copyright of this Information belongs to GSR. Neither this Information nor any copy thereof may be taken or rented or redistributed, directly or indirectly, without prior written permission of GSR. Not a solicitation to U.S. Entities or individuals for securities in any form. If you are such an entity, you must close this page.