Play-to-earn giant Axie Infinity’s AXS cryptocurrency has rallied 40% over the past 24 hours to a four-month high of $13.94 despite the impending unlocking of millions of dollars’ worth of tokens. Meanwhile, layer 1 blockchain Aptos’ APT tokens are up 250% over the past 14 days. The price of APT traded just shy of $13 on Monday, up from last week’s $7 and up from a low of $3 in November, according to CoinDesk data. NFT markets on Aptos appear to have contributed to the growth. Data from Aptos NFT marketplace Topaz show collections such as Aptomingos – a set of comic flamingos – and Aptos Monkeys attracted tens of thousands of dollars in trading volume in the past 24 hours. Aptos was founded by former employees of Facebook parent Meta Platforms. Bitcoin was up slightly on the day, trading at $22,900 after briefly reaching $23,000 on Sunday.
Crypto lender Genesis Global Capital’s first-day hearing in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case will take place on Monday, according to court filings. Genesis’ trading arm, which remained out of Chapter 11, is still moving money around on exchanges – a sign the business is running at least somewhat as normal. About $125 million was sent to exchanges in the run-up to Genesis’ lending division filing for Chapter 11. A wallet controlled by Genesis’ over-the-counter trading desk sent about $125 million of ETH, FTM and USDT to Coinbase, Binance, Bitstamp and Kraken on Thursday. CoinDesk and Genesis are both owned by Digital Currency Group.
Signature Bank won’t handle transactions of less than $100,000 for crypto-exchange customers starting on Feb. 1, according to a statement from Binance. The exchange said in the statement emailed to CoinDesk that Signature had also told Binance that the minimum would apply to customers of all other crypto exchanges, as well.
Market Insight: Binance’s Emerging Story
Countries riddled with inflation are always seeking alternative means to safeguard their money from devaluing currencies. Binance capitalized on this trend last year, largely because of its easy accessibility for retail investors in these markets, according to a 2022 report from CryptoCompare, which tracks digital-asset trends.
Binance won the largest market share among exchanges, recording a 16.3% increase, according to the report.
“Binance’s increasing market share is also a result of the growing adoption of cryptocurrencies, particularly in emerging markets,” the CryptoCompare report said. The exchange is often the most readily available choice for users in emerging markets, it added.
By trading volume, Binance is the world’s largest exchange, according to CoinMarketCap data. Its more than $14 billion in spot trading volume over the past 24 hours exceeded the amount of the next 20 exchanges in CoinMarketCap’s rankings combined.
The CME’s FedWatch tool shows markets are certain the Federal Reserve will take another step down in its pace of its interest rate hikes.
Monday morning’s market pricing showed a 100% probability that the Fed would deliver an increase of 25 basis points on Feb. 1, lifting the benchmark borrowing rate to 4.5%-4.75%.
The central bank slowed the pace of rate hikes to 50 basis points last month, offering relief to battered risky assets, including cryptocurrencies. The Fed had lifted its benchmark rate by 75 points in each of its previous four meetings.
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