Author: Bloomberg
Trading volume has slowed across many cryptocurrency trading platforms during the rout in global assets triggered by the Ukraine crisis, a potentiality troubling sign for a sector that has billed itself as alternative to traditional finance. Bitcoin’s aggregated daily spot trading volume on Coinbase, Bitstamp, FTX, Gemini, ItBit, Kraken and LMAX Digital was around $3 billion, according to data from researcher Skew. That’s compared with previous highs of roughly $5 billion in the beginning of December. At one point Thursday, Bitcoin lost about $27 billion in market value. Bitcoin’s aggregated daily spot volume across seven centralized exchanges was up, as…
Alameda Research, the cryptocurrency trading juggernaut founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, is funding a portion of its $5 billion in daily trading activity with money provided by decentralized-finance lenders. The associated precursor of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX said it will borrow as much as $750 million from the DeFi lending platform TrueFi within a year. Alameda was one of the investors in TrueFi parent TrustToken’s $12.5 million fund-raising round last year. It also borrows from smaller rival Maple Finance. One of the biggest constraints for the crypto industry since its birth more than a decade ago has been access to the traditional banking system, in…
Bitcoin’s correlation to stocks continued to strengthen as the largest cryptocurrency rebounded along other risk assets as fast-moving developments related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine whipsawed investors. The largest digital currency fluctuated in a range of about 14% on Thursday. A 60-day correlation between the digital token and S&P 500 currently stands at 0.6, out of a highest possible score of 1, indicating similar behavior. “Crypto is slowly becoming a more institutional market,” Callie Cox, U.S. investment analyst at eToro, said by phone. “It’s gone from this speculative asset to an investment vehicle.” Markets rebounded in U.S. afternoon trading…
Coinbase Global Inc. shares slumped about 3% in post-market trading after the biggest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange cautioned that trading volume will decline in the first quarter. The disappointment comes even after the company reported revenue jumped to $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with a $2 billion average estimate by analysts. The closely-watched metric of monthly transacting users was 11.4 million, beating the average analyst estimate of 9.8 million and up from 7.4 million in the third quarter. “We believe that retail monthly transacting users and total trading volume will be lower” in first quarter compared with the fourth…
The crypto platform made a splash with a Super Bowl ad, but now says its outlook for the year is uncertain. That should make investors nervous. Coinbase Global Inc. Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong has been publicly basking in the positive response to the cryptocurrency-trading platform’s Super Bowl TV commercial. The ad offering new users $15 in free Bitcoin was a marketing bonanza. But while generating buzz is a good thing, getting attention for giving away money won’t fix the major problems with Coinbase’s business. And the crypto platform’s latest financial results suggest there is no turnaround in sight. On Thursday, the company beat…
Coinbase Global Inc. said that so-called altcoins — tokens other than Bitcoin and Ethereum — made up 68% of trading volume in the fourth quarter, the highest percentage yet for the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange. The shift reflects a decision last year to focus on increasing the stable of coins listed to help ease the impact of Bitcoin’s price swings on revenue and earnings. Coinbase Trading Volume By Coin In percentages Coinbase Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong made a push last year to list every digital coin deemed legal. The company added 95 coins for trading last year, and more than 70 for…
Block Inc., the digital-payments firm run by Jack Dorsey, surged as much as 30% in late trading after it reported fourth-quarter revenue that topped projections and gave an unexpectedly positive outlook for 2022. Fourth-quarter revenue was $4.08 billion, slightly topping the $4.01 billion average estimated by analysts. Block, formerly known as Square, also said its Cash App’s gross profit will be stronger in the second half of the year because of expected product improvements and commerce integrations following the company’s purchase of buy-now, pay-later company AfterPay. While gross payment volume will be lower than expected in the current quarter, Block…
BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes and Benjamin Delo admitted they failed to establish an anti-money-laundering program at the cryptocurrency exchange, avoiding a trial on federal charges scheduled to begin in New York next month. Hayes, 36, and Delo, 38, each pleaded guilty Thursday to a single charge of violating the Bank Secrecy Act. Under the plea deal, the parties agreed that the federal sentencing guidelines call for a sentence of six to 12 months each. Hayes and Delo each also agreed to pay a fine of $10 million. If convicted at trial, they had faced as much as five years in prison.…
Crypto prices are plunging as Putin’s war in Ukraine deepens the “crypto winter,” but some crypto traders are moving their money to a spot that’s holding value. Stable coins, which include Tether, USD Coin, and Binance USD, are tied to a fiat currency like the U.S. dollar. Because of this, their prices vary less, and investors are rushing in amid geopolitical turmoil. This fluctuation was especially evident Thursday as markets were rattled following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum, the most popular cryptocurrencies, dropped 7% and 9%, respectively. Both have lost about half their value since they…
Bitcoin is falling while gold is rising as investors seek traditional refuges amid the turmoil in Ukraine, undercutting the often-touted argument from advocates that the cryptocurrency is now a digital version of the long-time haven asset. “Bitcoin is much more of a momentum and risk-driven asset than it is the independent store of value that people want it to become, it’s not there yet,” said Tom Essaye, a former Merrill Lynch trader who founded “The Sevens Report” newsletter. Gold traded as high as $1,974 on Thursday, the most since September 2020, a year marked by the onset…