The latest moves in crypto markets, in context By Lyllah Ledesma, CoinDesk reporter Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here. |
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Welcome to a new month! Here’s what you need to know today in crypto: |
- Bitcoin begins the new month down another 2% after losing 4% in July.
- Justin Sun steps in to support Curve Finance’s CRV token price.
- The SEC sues Richard Heart, Hex, and PulseChain on unregistered securities and fraud allegations.
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CoinDesk Market Index (CMI): 1,254 −1.9%
Bitcoin (BTC): $28,896 −1.7%
Ether (ETC): $1,834 −1.9%
S&P 500 futures: 4,608.00 −0.1%
FTSE 100: 7,693.29 −0.1%
Treasury Yield 10 Years: 3.96% −0.0 |
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Bitcoin (BTC) starts August losing ground, declining 2% Tuesday morning to add to July’s 4% retreat. The price dropped to as low as $28,800, its weakest level since mid-June, while altcoins took a larger hit with Solana’s SOL falling 5%, Optimism’s OP 8% and Stellar XLM 6%. The broad CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) is off 1.9%. In traditional markets, U.S. stock futures retreated slightly from 16-month highs as caution prevailed after a five-month winning streak. The pull back came after a number of companies reported disappointing second quarter earnings. |
Bitcoin 24 hour price chart |
Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron blockchain, stepped in to support the Curve Finance (CRV) token price in a move that could protect a massive loan tied to the decentralized exchange’s founder Michael Egorov from being liquidated. Blockchain data from Tuesday shows Sun purchased about 5 million CRV from a wallet tagged “Curve.fi Founder” at an average price of $0.40 (just over $2.3 million) in an over-the-counter transaction. While Sun paid well below curve’s $0.59 trading price at writing time on Tuesday, it is more than the $0.37 price level at which Egarov’s loan could be liquidated. Curve Finance, a stablecoin swapping giant, suffered a Sunday exploit that drove down the price of the CRV token, putting $168 million of Egorov's holdings at risk of being liquidated. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued internet marketer Richard Schueler, known online as Richard Heart, and his projects Hex, PulseChain and PulseX, alleging he raised over $1 billion across three different unregistered securities offerings. Heart also defrauded his investors, the SEC alleged in its Monday lawsuit, by using investor funds for personal goods. "Heart continually touted these investments as a pathway to grandiose wealth for investors, claiming that Hex, for example, 'was built to be the highest appreciating asset that has ever existed in the history of man,'" the lawsuit read. "Although Heart claimed these investments were for the vague purpose of supporting free speech, he did not disclose that he used millions of dollars of PulseChain investor funds to buy luxury goods for himself." |
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Decentralized exchange Curve's CRV token continues to lose ground as the looming threat of potential large liquidation of the founder's borrowed position has traders piling into short positions. Early Tuesday, the cryptocurrency fell to around 50 cents, reaching the lowest since Nov. 22, according to CoinDesk data. Prices are down roughly 30% since Curve fell victim to a reentrancy attack late Sunday. The notional open interest in perpetual futures tied to CRV has doubled to $106 million alongside deeply negative funding rates, according to data source Velo. This is generally a sign of traders shorting or betting on a price decline. |
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- The chart shows 1% market depth for decentralized exchange Curve's CRV token in U.S. dollar terms and native token terms.
- The market depth – the market's ability to absorb large orders at stable prices – has declined in the dollar terms and is only slightly up in the native token terms.
- A potential liquidation of Curve founder Micheal Egorov's multi-million dollar worth of CRV backed loans could thus have an outsized impact of CRV's price.
- Source: Falcon Research, CoinMetrics
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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. |
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