The latest moves in crypto markets, in context By Lyllah Ledesma, CoinDesk reporter Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here. |
|
|
Happy Thursday! Here’s what you need to know today in crypto: |
| The market for tokenized U.S. Treasury debt is booming. Bitcoin cash rallied on Thursday while bitcoin held steady around $70,000. BlackRock's first tokenized asset fund is off to a strong start, data shows. |
|
|
CoinDesk 20 Index: 2,703 +1.1%
Bitcoin (BTC): $70,897 +1.0%
Ether (ETC): $3,590 +0.2%
S&P 500: 5,248.49 +0.9%
Gold: $2,231 +1.8%
Nikkei 225: $2,231 +1.8% |
|
|
The market for tokenized U.S. Treasury debt is booming. The market value of Treasury notes tokenized through public blockchains like Ethereum, Polygon, Valanche, Stellar and others has crossed above $1 billion for the first time, data tracked by Tom Wan, an analyst at crypto firm 21.co, show. Tokenized Treasuries are digital representations of U.S. government bonds that can be traded as tokens on the blockchain. The market value has risen nearly 10-fold since January last year and 18% since traditional finance giant BlackRock announced Etheruem-based tokenized fund BUIDL on March 20. |
Bitcoin (BTC) prices were little changed over the past 24 hours after a volatile week. Prices briefly jumped above $71,000 on Tuesday, and have since retreated slightly to levels around $70,700 ahead of a major options expiry on Friday. Most major tokens posted slight losses. Meanwhile, bitcoin cash (BCH) zoomed 13% before an expected halving event on April 4. The current block reward of 6.25 BCH will be cut to 3.125 BCH. Open interest on BCH-tracked futures more than doubled to $500 million on Thursday from $213 million last week, showing an increase in levered bets on more expected price volatility. BlackRock's first tokenized asset fund is off to a strong start, garnering a significant market share of the blockchain-based tokenized U.S. Treasury market just a week after its debut. Blockchain data shows that BlackRock's BUIDL raked in $245 million of deposits as of Wednesday. Its strong introduction propelled the fund into second place among peers, trailing only Franklin Templeton's Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX), which has $360 million of deposits, according to rwa.xyz data. |
|
|
Consensus is the biggest and most established hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3. Join us at the 10th annual Consensus May 29-31 in Austin, Texas for dialogue, discovery and dealmaking alongside developers, investors, startups, executives and more. Save 15% with code FM15. Grab your pass. |
|
|
Market Insight: Upside Volatility Could Be On The Way |
The impending quarterly expiry of bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) options contracts worth several billion dollars could breed bullish price volatility, according to observers. On Friday at 08:00 UTC, Deribit, the world’s leading cryptocurrency options exchange, will settle quarterly contracts worth $15.2 billion. Bitcoin options account for $9.5 billion, or 62%, of the total notional open interest due for settlement, and ether options comprise the rest. The expiry is one of the largest in the exchange’s history, Deribit data show. The expiry will wipe out 40% and 43%, respectively, of bitcoin and ether’s total notional open interest across maturities. |
|
|
| The chart shows shares in Nvidia are on track to register the first weekly loss of 2024. Since 2020, Bitcoin has closely tracked Nvidia prices. The 90-day and 52-week correlation coefficient between the two are greater than 0.80.Source: TradingView |
|
|
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. |
|
|
|
