Crypto goes green

All investments and trading are risky and may result in the loss of capital. Cryptoassets are largely unregulated and are therefore not subject to protection.

Crypto is shining and rising despite geopolitical and macroeconomic headwinds. Bitcoin rose 1% over 24 hours to nearly $41,000. That was as of 8:30 a.m. (EST).

Ethereum, second-largest crypto behind BTC, rose 4% to nearly $2,800. Fittingly, for St. Patrick's Day, all of the Top 20 coins are clad in green.

Next up will be the first official day of spring, Easter and the question of whether the recent BTC high of $42,000 is able to be surpassed. If such a breach were to happen, Cointelegraph’s Michaël van de Poppe said, it would “open the gates” to $46K.

Fresh optimism that Chinese leaders might pivot toward being more market friendly has helped the beleaguered stock market in Hong Kong start to stage a rebound, generally providing a jolt of optimism to equities even as the bond market signals economic trouble ahead.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has signed into law a bill that effectively legalizes crypto in the war-afflicted country.

The Fed raised rates and so, of course, spot gold advanced. But it's not like the precious metal is at all-time highs.

Spot gold touched $2,072.50 per ounce in August 2020. That's the ATH. Last week, amidst a worsening war, worrisome inflation data and oil shocks, the intra-session price got to $2,069.89.

Earlier today, spot gold gained 1% to get to about $1,943.

You take a stagnating economy – one that's not growing – add in an uptick in unemployment plus high inflation and what do you get? Economists call it stagflation. For policymakers, it's a nightmare.

Nearly a half-century has gone by since the U.S. economy last endured both high inflation and high unemployment from a stagnating economy, a double-whammy that at the time economists didn’t even believe was possible, according to Veronika Dolar, an almost perfectly named economist at Stony Brook University.

The most common recipe for stagflation happens when there is a so-called negative supply shock, that is, when something crucial to an entire economy, say oil, suddenly becomes more expensive.

Policymaker tinkering/lever pulling with respect to either problem – high inflation/low growth – "usually ends up making the other one even worse," Dolar said.

"If rates go up and the economy slows, many asset prices may decline," one former Goldman Sachs told CoinDesk last month. "Including Bitcoin.”

With hell being unleashed upon them, Ukraine formally fast-tracked a set of rules allowing for the country's use of cryptocurrencies. While an exceptionally impressive feat of legislative expediency, it isn't surprising, considering the stakes.

Ukraine has received upwards of $60 million worth of digital donations. Some estimates are that the haul has exceeded $100 million.

President Zelenskyy has just signed a bill that was approved by Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, last month. It creates "conditions for the launch of a legal market for virtual assets in Ukraine.” And it allows Ukrainian banks to open accounts for crypto firms (The Verge). Concurrently, the National Bank of Ukraine and the National Securities and Stock Market Commission were appointed as watchdogs; crypto exchanges and companies that handle other virtual assets will have to register with the government (Cointelegraph).

“The signing of this law by the president is another important step towards bringing the crypto sector out of the shadows and launching a legal market for virtual assets in Ukraine,” said the Ministry of Digital Transformation, which is the midst of spearheading a major initiative to leverage the decentralized monetary support pouring in.

Enlisting Kuna, Ukraine's largest crypto exchange, as well as FTX and Everstake, the Ministry earlier this week launched an official donation platform – and a fundraising goal of $200 million.

Some $55 million in crypto donations have come in so far.