Digital market euphoria escalates
What's being bought and sold*
TOP TRENDING ASSETS
*Trading activity in the past 24 hours on the Uphold platform, as of 8 a.m. 15th February 2024.
The combined total of buy and sell percentages can exceed 100% due to customers who engage in both buying and selling the same asset within the 24-hour time frame.
Don’t invest in crypto unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong.
What’s up
Bitcoin, On A Heater, Finds Liquid Heaven
The global crypto market cap hit $2.05 trillion today. Bitcoin, as of 8:30 a.m. (EST), was roughly $52,200 on a 1.1% gain in the prior 24 hours. BTC volume has been overwhelming. Some $37 billion worth of BTC changed hands during the past one day, according to CoinGecko.
Exchange liquidity is growing at a "blistering pace," Decrypt said.
Analysts are tying the BTC rally to ETF inflows and the supply-crimping BTC rewards halving event, perceived as bullish and coming in April.
Meanwhile, analysts are forecasting a blowout Q4 for Coinbase set to report earnings later. The estimates are for higher profits on the back of increased trading volume.
The depth level of BTC liquidity on U.S. exchanges, including Coinbase and Kraken, is rising at the fastest clip seen in a few years, said Kaiko.
In the BTC derivatives markets, yesterday, per CoinGlass, the open interest in BTC contracts climbed to $24 billion, or just shy of an all-time high of $24.27 billion recorded in April of 2021.
What's down
Ominously For Fiat, Yen Further Weakens
Japan's "lost decade" of the 1990s is a story of epic stagnation connected with an aging population hoarding cash after a real estate bubble. Nowadays, it's persistent inflation stunting the world's fourth-largest economy.
After contracting, again, Japan’s economy technically dipped into a recession in the latter part of 2023, according to government data.
Inflation, as measured by the Bank of Japan, which excludes food and energy prices, has exceeded BOJ’s 2% target for 15 straight months (CNBC).
Japan's closely watched core inflation rate climbed 3.1% compared to last year, the biggest increase in four decades.
Meanwhile, the yen has been getting pummeled for the past two years. In 2022 and 2023, the beleaguered fiat currency depreciated 13% and 7.5%, respectively, against the dollar; the yen has fallen another 6.4% versus the greenback so far this year.
As a result, per CoinDesk, the BTC-Yen pair has reached a record high. Earlier this week, the Tokyo-based bitFLYER exchange said BTC hit 7.9 million yen.
What's next
Buzzkiller Whales Spotted
Another Valentine's Day has come and gone (sigh). Still, everything’s coming up roses in crypto.
So, what could go wrong? Well, Bitcoin could falter, taking the wind out of the digital market's sails.
Two major potential BTC sell-pressure catalysts could stymie this ongoing surge, points out U.Today, citing Spot On Chain.
Firstly, there's bankrupt crypto firm Genesis, recently winning approval from a U.S. federal court to liquidate $1.3 billion worth of shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) as part of the process of repaying creditors.
Secondly, there's the U.S. federal government itself, a whale of a holder with some 208,000 BTC worth $10.9 billion.
Last month, U.S. officials announced the government coffers intended to dispose of $150.6 million worth of BTC seized from the Silk Road platform. That might seem like a relatively small amount in terms of drop-to-bucket ratio (with BTC market cap now above $1T) although, apparently, the last time the feds sold a bunch of BTC – to the tune of $248 million, via Coinbase – the market indeed felt it. The sale came during a BlackRock-filing pump in July, said Spot On Chain, noting how, at the time, BTC fell from $30,800 to $30,200, allegedly owing to the government offload.
