Bitcoin stayed above $16K after the Fed minutes and Genesis Global Capital confirmed hiring investment bank Moelis. |
Nov. 23, 2022
What happened today in crypto markets
By Jocelyn Yang, CoinDesk Markets Reporter
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Happy Wednesday and (almost) Thanksgiving. Here’s what moved in the crypto markets today:
Bitcoin stayed above $16,000 after the release of Federal Reserve minutes from its previous meeting. Some altcoins notched double-digit gains, including Solana’s SOL token and Binance’s in-house BNB token.
Genesis Global Capital confirmed that it has hired investment bank Moelis & Co. to explore how to shore up its crypto-lending business’ liquidity and address clients’ needs, days after halting withdrawals.
Anxious Ethereum stakers are now questioning when they will be able to access the funds.
As part of the transaction, which occurred around 08:38 UTC, a wallet that received 3,500 bitcoin forwarded 300 BTC to another destination. That was split further and landed in several wallets not attributed to any known custodial service.
The distribution pattern is open to interpretation: It’s possible the wallet owner simply sent the money to other wallets of their own, sent it to other people or cashed out through an unofficial over-the-counter broker. The remaining 6,500 stayed put.
Mt. Gox, the first bitcoin exchange, was robbed of 744,408 BTC and shut permanently in 2014. Alexander Vinnik, alleged to be the operator of BTC-e – which he denies – was arrested in 2017 at a resort near Thessaloniki, Greece, at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice on money laundering and other allegations.
The wallet involved in Wednesday’s transaction was attributed to BTC-e by blockchain analytics system Crystal Blockchain. The transfer was noticed by Russian crypto entrepreneur Sergey Mendeleev, who published the observation in his Telegram channel.
The discovery comes as the crypto industry suffers through its latest debacle, the collapse of FTX and fallout that has affected multiple companies touching the crypto exchange and its affiliated companies.
Other News
Bitcoin (BTC) jumped about 2% after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s November meeting showed that the majority of central bankers prefer a slower pace of rate hikes going forward. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was trading as high as $16,671 but had settled back to $16,400 as of press time.
“A substantial majority of participants judged that a slowing in the pace of increase would likely soon be appropriate,” the minutes stated. “The uncertain lags and magnitudes associated with the effects of monetary policy actions on economic activity and inflation were among the reasons cited regarding why such an assessment was important.”
Some altcoins notched similar gains:Ether (ETH) followed BTC, and was up roughly 3.9% to $1,170.Solana’s SOL token jumped 20%, while Binance’s in-house BNB token was up 12%.
Equity markets turned green ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday: U.S. stocks edged up following the Fed minutes, with the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index up 0.5% at closing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained 0.2%, while Nasdaq was up 0.9%.
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Market Analysis: Commitment of Traders Report Shows Asset Managers Trimming Long Positions
For leveraged funds, increased long positions could be a byproduct of funds buying futures contracts which currently trade at a discount to spot prices. This condition, referred to as backwardation is generally a bearish sign for markets.
Current bearishness will continue to pressure BTC markets in what has been a prolonged crypto winter. At current prices, just 45% of BTC supply is in profit, down from 70% in the beginning of 2022.
Bitcoin’s percent supply in profit has been lower in the past however, falling to 43% in March 2020, and as low as 39% in 2015. Historically, declines in percent supply in profit have marked short-term price bottoms for bitcoin.
Generation C hosts Avery Akkineni of Vayner 3 and Sam Ewen from CoinDesk share how brands and marketers are using Web3 to experiment and potentially transform their businesses. Tune in to explore how Fortune 500 companies and new start-ups alike are coming to the blockchain to generate attention, gain customers and create value for their bottom line and their communities. Listen now.
Altcoin Roundup
Pre-halving rally? Litecoin’s LTC token surged to a six-month high. LTC has rallied over 43% from $55 to $78 this month, with prices rising 13% in the past 24 hours alone. LTC’s bullish turn comes eight months ahead of Litecoin’s third mining reward halving, which will cut LTC’s pace of supply expansion by 50%.
Anxious Ethereum stakers are now questioning when they will be able to access the funds. Ethereum core developers generally agree that the aim was always for staked ether (ETH) withdrawals to be opened up as part of “Shanghai,” the next upgrade on its development road map. But a definitive date for withdrawals? That hasn’t been set yet.
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Listen 🎧: Today’s “CoinDesk Markets Daily” podcast discusses the latest market movements and a deeper look at the troubled transactions inside FTX.
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.
