More than $200 million in shorts (bets against price rises) have been liquidated in the last 24 hours as the major cryptocirremcies rallied. Bitcoin broke above $18,000, and ether rose over $1,400. Other coins like XRP and solana rose as much as 20%. The liquidations are in addition to those of more than $150 million earlier this week. Such levels haven’t been seen since October, data from CoinGlass shows. Some analysts, however, believe the rally exemplifies indecisiveness among crypto traders, as BTC and ETH are trading with a consolidation pattern, according to QCP Capital. Consolidation refers to an asset oscillating between a well-defined pattern of trading levels, marking uncertainty in which direction it will break.
Dall-E/CoinDesk
Blockchain.com is cutting around 110 jobs, amounting to about 28% of its workforce. The crypto brokerage previously let go about 150 people last July, after it took a hit of $270 million on a loan it had made to collapsed hedge fund Three Arrows Capital. The layoffs at Blockchain.com add to those at other crypto firms, most recently at incubator ConsenSys and exchange Coinbase. CoinDesk estimates that more than 28,000 jobs have been lost in the crypto industry since last April.
With a loan from bankrupt crypto exchange FTX last year, BlockFi executives’ equity holdings were wiped out by $800 million. In exchange, they granted themselves pay rises of as much as $500,000 each. Founder Zac Prince saw $413 million in equity value eliminated, and was compensated by a salary hike of between $250,000 and $400,000. BlockFi’s lawyers have been keen to stress that there was no last-minute withdrawals prior to the collapse.
Market Insight: ETH Climbs to Above $1,400
TradingView/CoinDesk
Ether rallied to a two-month high of over $1,400, taking its month-to-date gain to over 17%, while bitcoin hit $18,000, a four-week high.
Crypto’s rally stands in contrast to S&P 500 futures, which were showing muted sentiment ahead of the U.S. Consumer Price Index, which will be released at 8.30 a.m. ET.
“The U.S. dollar has peaked and the U.S. inflation is dropping fast. The market has moved on from the negative liquidity impact of the hawkish Federal Reserve and bankruptcy news flow of crypto exchanges and liquidity providers,” Markus Thielen, head of strategy and research at crypto-services provider Matrixport, said.
The Shanghai upgrade, due in March, appears to be driving ETH upward. Following the upgrade, users will be able to withdraw their staked ether, “de-risking” the staking of the asset. Therefore, the upgrade is expected to boost staking demand, reducing the circulating supply of ether. This appears to be priced into ETH’s current market moves.
The chart shows bitcoin rallied to a four-week high of $18,370 early Thursday, amounting to a 9% rally since the U.S. jobs report on Jan. 6 showed wage growth slowed in December.
The U.S. Dollar Index has traded weak since Friday, hitting its lowest level since June.
The classic risk-on action may indicate a market positioned for a softer-than-expected CPI. Therefore, profit-taking in bitcoin is possible after the inflation numbers are released.
The consensus is for the data to show the year-over-year rate of headline CPI gains dropped to 6.6% in December from November’s 7.1%. The core figure excludes the volatile food and energy component and is forecast to have dropped from 6.0% to 5.7%.
– Omkar Godbole
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Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments.
