February 6, 2023

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, is trading down for a fifth straight day on Monday, the longest run since falling over six consecutive days in August last year. Bitcoin began to fall on Thursday after posting an upward trajectory in January, when it gained 40%, according to data from TradingView. Monday’s drop comes as Wall Street equity futures and European stocks dipped following Friday’s unexpectedly strong jobs report from the U.S. The rest of the crypto market was also trading in the red on Monday. 

Bitcoin daily chart. (TradingView) 

South Korea's Financial Services Commission on Monday published guidelines on which security tokens will qualify for regulation under the country's capital markets rules. The guidance comes ahead of highly anticipated regulations that will institutionalize security tokens. South Korea is working on comprehensive regulations for the crypto and blockchain sector, with lawmakers of the country's National Assembly considering 17 separate related proposals.

Sam Bankman-Fried showered politicians with tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions before his FTX empire imploded in November. Now, the bankrupt crypto exchange wants that money back. On Sunday, FTX Group said it is sending “confidential letters” to politicians and other political beneficiaries of Bankman-Fried, his deputies and his companies, asking them to return the money by the end of the month. In a press release the firm said it reserved the right to try and force repayments – plus interest – through court action.

Ethereum has witnessed much healthier on-chain activity recently, with improved interest in non-fungible-tokens led by the launch of a mini-game by Yuga Labs, Bernstein said in a research report Monday.

Daily fees on the blockchain have more than doubled since the start of the year from around $2 million to $4 million-$6 million, the report said. Ether has gained around 35%.

Bernstein notes that ether inflation has remained negative for over two weeks, with the expectation of further deflation with more on-chain activity and demand.

“We do believe BTC [bitcoin] and ETH remain relatively clean here and will see gradual conviction-based spot positioning,” analysts Gautam Chhugani and Manas Agrawal wrote.

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