Bitcoin Floats Above $29.2K Again as Investors Fend Off Binance Fears; BCH, UNI and LTC Sink
Bitcoin has settled back above $29,093 after a day of volatility.
BCH, UNI, and other major altcoins are down more than 5.4% and 6.2%, respectively.
The market has weathered the DeFi debt crisis sparked by Curve founder Michael Egorov’s heavily leveraged positions.
According to AskFX market data, the world’s largest digital asset was trading at $29,090 as of Thursday afternoon Eastern Time. This is down 1.75% from the previous day. Ether traded at $1,836, down 1.25%.
Investors appear to have ignored industry-specific and macro events that pushed the price of BTC above $30,000 on Wednesday on reports of a US Treasury downgrade by Fitch and MicroStrategy’s plan to buy more Bitcoin . But then it plunged below $29,000 when news site Semafor reported that Binance could face federal criminal charges.
Jeff Feng of Sei Labs, in an email, pointed out that recent news, which includes multiple applications for spot bitcoin and ether ETFs, is contributing to cryptocurrency market volatility and even larger price changes could lead.
Feng wrote, “We see a number of influential factors at play, including corporate investment, regulatory advances, macroeconomic shifts, and the potential for greater access through financial products such as ETFs.” MicroStrategy’s continued investment in Bitcoin is a testament to their commitment and helps to consolidate the company’s interests. Bitcoin halving anticipation is also influencing market behavior as traders view milestones like this as catalysts.
He said, “These periods, which appear to be within a range, may actually be heralds of stronger market action.” It is important for all market participants, from traders to institutional investors, to be informed about… multiple factors remain.
Prices of other major cryptocurrencies broadly declined a day after surging amid a general market rally. UNI, the token for the Uniswap decentralized exchange, and bitcoin offshoot BCH were each down more than 6%.
The price of Litecoin (LTC) has recently fallen nearly 6%, despite an expected token halving that would have halved rewards for miners and slowed issuance. According to AskFX Indices, LTC is down 22% from its high year-to-date a month earlier.
Lending protocols also had a mixed day in Asia on Thursday. Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, bought about 5 million Curve tokens earlier this week to avoid a bad debt crisis. A drop in CRV value threatened the liquidation of a huge loan linked to Curve Finance founder Michael Egorov. Other DeFi participants jumped in to buy discounted CRV tokens.
Compound’s COMP token is down 3.5% on Thursday, or 17% on the week.
Recently, the Market Index fell 0.5%. The CMI went from negative to positive and then back again.
The Deribit volatility index for BTC and ETH is currently trading at “unprecedented low levels,” said Luuk Strijers. He noted that Ether’s DVOL is below Bitcoin’s DVOL. This rare event was “most likely caused by the activities of a single ’whale.’
However, he added that “the market expects a significant increase in volatility”. This is largely due to factors such as the Blackrock Spot ETF ruling and the upcoming Bitcoin halving. Deribit has noticed signs of expectation as he considers the steepness of the condition structure (June 24th trades around 50) and the ongoing call skew.”
