ALSO: CoinDeskโs previous head of research writes that regardlessย of Government efforts in such large, emerging countries as Pakistan and Nigeria to curb cryptocurrency activity, citizens there appearย to be turning to digital assets as a hedge.
Good morning. Hereโs whatโs happening:
Prices: Bitcoinย (BTC) at $26.8K maintains its debt-ceiling holding pattern.
Insights: Cryptocurrency as a hedge? The citizens in two large, emerging countries and other major wholeย lotย of economies appearย to be turning to digital assets as their currencies struggle.
CoinDesk Market Index (CMI)
1,162
ey_Takeawaysโ>Key Takeaways => Mainย Points=โ0-diff-returns-stringโ class=โdiff-valueโ>+4.9 0.4 percent
Bitcoinย (BTC) $26,866
ey_Takeawaysโ>Key Takeaways => Mainย Points=โ1-diff-returns-stringโ class=โdiff-valueโ>+108.3 0.4 percent
Ethereumย (ETH) $1,819
ey_Takeawaysโ>Key Takeaways => Mainย Points=โ2-diff-returns-stringโ class=โdiff-valueโ>+13.9 0.8 percent
S&P 500
4,192.63
ey_Takeawaysโ>Key Takeaways => Mainย Points=โ3-diff-returns-stringโ class=โdiff-valueโ>+0.6 0.0 percent
Gold
$1,972
ey_Takeawaysโ>Key Takeaways => Mainย Points=โ4-diff-returns-stringโ class=โdiff-valueโ>โ6.7 0.3 percent
Nikkei 225
31,086.82
ey_Takeawaysโ>Key Takeaways => Mainย Points=โ5-diff-returns-stringโ class=โdiff-valueโ>+278.5 0.9 percent
BTC/ Ethereumย (ETH) prices per CoinDesk Indices, as of 7 a.m. ET (11 a.m. UTC)
Boring Bitcoinย (BTC) Slumbers Near $27K
Bitcoinย (BTC) held comfortably in its most up-to-date range on Monday as investors weighed the latest developments in the Unitedย States debt ceiling stalemate.
The largest digitalย currency by marketย cap was recently currentlyย worth about $26,866, up 0.4%. Bitcoin has hovered betwixt $26,500 and $27,500 for almost two weeks, reportsย by CoinDesk data, amid macroeconomic uncertainties, including concerns that Unitedย States President Joe Biden and House leadership would be unable to reach an agreement about raising the countryโs debt limit.
โ Cryptocurrency traders are not sure how Bitcoinย (BTC) will behave throughout theย following plentyย of days of debt ceiling negotiations,โ Edward Moya, senior market analyst for foreign exchange market maker Oanda, wrote in a note.
Moya wentย onย toย say: The danger of default isย quite small but if it were to happen, that could feel like an uppercut to danger appetite, which would send cryptocurrencies sharply lower. Bitcoinย (BTC) appears content to trade near the lower boundaries of its recent trading range betwixt $26,500 and $30,000.โ
Since 1960, the Government has increased the debt limit 78 times, but theย present, charged political environment has raised anxiety about the willingness of lawmakers to work together.
In a letter to Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Unitedย States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reiterated a May 15 warning that without an agreement, โthe Treasury Department would be unable to satisfy all the governmentโs obligations by early June, and potentially as early as June 1.โ
โWe have learned from past debt limit impasses that waiting until the last minute to suspend or increase the debt limit can cause serious harm to business and consumer confidence, raise short-term borrowing costs for taxpayers, and negatively impact the credit rating of the United States,โ Yellen added. โWe have already seen Treasuryโs borrowing boats increase substantially for securities maturing in June.โ
Ether was recently changing hands at about $1,820, up 0.8%. The Second largest cryptocurrency in marketย price has been similarly range-bound betwixt $1,750 and $1,850 inย theย previous two weeks. Other major cryptocurrencies were largely in the green, albeit paler shades, with TRX and Avalancheย (AVAX), the cryptoย tokens of smart contracts platform Tron and Avalancheย (AVAX), recently up 3.8 percent and 2.3%, respectively. The CoinDesk Market Index, a measure of cryptocurrency markets performance, recently rose 0.4%
Between major equity indexes, the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.5 percent to hit a 2023 high, while the S&P 500, which has a critical technology component, and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) ticked up 0.2 percent and 0.4%, respectively. Yields on Treasurys rose, and the price of gold sank slightly to $1,990, well below its near-record high early theseย 30ย days when investors were turning more to safe-haven assets.
Inย theย meantime, in an interview with CoinDesk TVโs โ 1st Moverโ program Monday, Ahmed Ismail, CEO of quant-based liquidity aggregator Fluid, stated that the retreat of market makers Jane Street and Jump Trading from cryptocurrency trading in the Unitedย States had spooked investors, decreasing an already dwindling supply of market liquidity.
โ 1 of the very big complications that cryptocurrency suffers with is liquidity being massively fragmented, and events such as this only exacerbate the problem,โ Ismail stated. โSo what weโre seeing atย thisย time is thereย is not much activity because liquidity is even more fragmented, and markets are very inefficient. Inย doingย so, youย willย see I think we are seeing certain narratives coming back.
Ismail noted an boostย in call options on cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, a signal of unrest about the debt ceiling and other macroeconomic uncertainties. โThe narrative of people taking liquidity out because theyโre afraid of whatโs going to happen and the uncertainty around the debt ceiling, thatโs certainly a huge challenge in keeping (the) cryptocurrency crisis so narrow now.โ
Largest Gainers
Largest Losers
Insights
Cryptocurrency as Hedge
With the Unitedย States mired in political stasis while other regions build cryptocurrency frameworks, itโs worth looking at the evolution of, and outlook for, on-the-ground demand for cryptocurrency assets. This is getting increasingly relevant as numerous large countries struggle with skyrocketing inflation, shaky currencies and autocratic control over financial access, and as populations become increasingly crypto-aware and a lack of trust in centralized institutions grows.
Pastย week, the Government of Pakistan (the fifth largest country in the world in terms of population, with over 239 Million inhabitants) was informed to have stated that digitalย currencies โwill never be legalizedโ in Pakistan, toย beย ableย to avoid FATF penalties.
Noelle Acheson is the previous head of research at CoinDesk and Genesis Trading. Thisย post is excerpted from her Cryptocurrency Is Macro Now newsletter, which concentratesย on the overlap betwixt the shifting cryptocurrency and macro landscapes. These opinions are hers, and nothing she writes should be taken as financing advice.
This may sound on the surface like an overreaction to FATFโs cryptocurrency stance โ last Thursday, the organizationโs president wasย releasedย a letter titled โAn end to the lawless cryptocurrency spaceโ which urges cryptocurrency regulation rather than a total ban.
Then onceย more, Pakistan has a somewhat tense relationship with the FATF, and just last October was taken off its โgrey listโ (which labels certain countries as having โdeficienciesโ in their AML controls, which asย aย result can lead to limited participation in worldwide finance).
Itโs likewise not hard to see the hand of the International Monetary Fund. Pakistan is asย ofย now in talks with the organization regarding a bailout package, although negotiations seem stalled and concern about the countryโs political and economic issues is starting to affect neighboring countries. The IMF has not been shy about its unease with cryptocurrency markets, and severalย months ago, reports surfaced that it had applied crypto-suppression conditions to negotiations with Argentina.
Read the full story here:
Important events.
4:00 p.m. HKT/SGT(8:00 UTC) Hamburg Commercial Bank Composite PMI (May)
4:30 p.m. HKT/SGT(8:30 UTC) Unitedย Kingdom S&P Global/CIPS Services PMIU (May)
6:45 p.m. HKT/SGT(22:45 UTC) New Zealand Retail Sales (QoQ/Q1)
CoinDesk TV
In case you missed it, here is the most up-to-date episode of โ 1st Moverโ on CoinDesk TV:
Bitcoinย (BTC) Sees Tightest Price Range in Months; Polygon Co- Founder on Webย 3.0 Outlook
Glassnode data revealed that Bitcoinย (BTC) (BTC) is settling into the tightest price range it has seen in months, regardlessย of looming concerns about the stability of Unitedย States regional banks and the countryโs debt ceiling. FLUID CEO Ahmed Ismail shared his cryptocurrency markets analysis. Plus, Polygon co- founder Sandeep Nailwal discussed launching a Webย 3.0 fellowship program. And, Litecoin Foundation managing director Alan Austin weighed in on theย pastย few surge in Litecoin activity amid the frenzy surrounding Ordinals.
Headlines
Tetherย (USDT) Trading Volume Falls to Multi-Year Bottomย Line, Marketย Capitalization Boost Is โQuestionable,โ Kaiko: Trading with Tetherโsย (USDT) USDT cryptoย stablecoin hasย dropped to its weakestย point in four years, while its marketย cap nears an record-breakingย peak of $83 billion.
Seeking Grants Deal with Osmosis, Privacy Blockchainย Tech Namada Proposes Airdrop: Ahead of its mainnet launch Namadaโs builders are attemptingย to ink an array of tech and cryptoย token partnerships.
Unitedย States Debt Deal Could Weigh On Bitcoinย (BTC) Price, Several Say: The Treasuryโs efforts to build back cash balances after resolution of the debt limit situation canย potentially suck out dollar liquidity from system, pushing Bitcoinย (BTC) lower.
DEX Mangrove Launches on Polygon Testnet, Intendsย to Go Live on Mainnet in June: Wintermute and Cumberland-backed Mangrove plans a mainnet launch of its programmable order book DEX in early June.
Gemini Reveals Genesis Parent DCG Missed $630 Million Payment: Gemini reveals it is working with Genesis, DCG, and creditors to provide forbearance to DCG toย beย ableย to avoid a default.
Sam Reynolds and James Rubin.
CoinDesk Market Index (CMI)
1,162
ey_Takeawaysโ>Key Takeaways => Mainย Points=โ0-diff-returns-stringโ class=โdiff-valueโ>+4.9 0.4 percent
Bitcoinย (BTC) $26,866
ey_Takeawaysโ>Key Takeaways => Mainย Points=โ1-diff-returns-stringโ class=โdiff-valueโ>+108.3 0.4 percent
Ethereumย (ETH) $1,819
ey_Takeawaysโ>Key Takeaways => Mainย Points=โ2-diff-returns-stringโ class=โdiff-valueโ>+13.9 0.8 percent
S&P 500
4,192.63
ey_Takeawaysโ>Key Takeaways => Mainย Points=โ3-diff-returns-stringโ class=โdiff-valueโ>+0.6 0.0 percent
Gold
$1,972
ey_Takeawaysโ>Key Takeaways => Mainย Points=โ4-diff-returns-stringโ class=โdiff-valueโ>โ6.7 0.3 percent
Nikkei 225
31,086.82
ey_Takeawaysโ>Key Takeaways => Mainย Points=โ5-diff-returns-stringโ class=โdiff-valueโ>+278.5 0.9 percent
BTC/ Ethereumย (ETH) prices per CoinDesk Indices, as of 7 a.m. ET (11 a.m. UTC)
