The latest moves in crypto markets, in context Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here. |
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Good morning, and welcome to First Mover. I'm Lyllah Ledesma here to take you through the latest in crypto markets, news and insights. In today's newsletter: - Price Point: Bitcoin witnessed some downside as the U.S. jobs report ended up showing further acceleration relative to June.
- Market Moves: Omkar Godbole reports on Flow token's price rally 40% rally and how the surge is related to Meta's decision to leverage the blockchain to expand its non-fungible tokens (NFT) initiative.
- Chart of The Day: Bitcoin's put-call skew continues to drift lower, indicating a weakening of bearish sentiment.
Also, check out our Market Wrap newsletter which drops today, and every weekday, at 5 PM EST. This end of day recap, written by Glenn Williams Jr., covers all the most important things that happened in crypto markets. Sign up to receive Market Wrap here. |
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Gains early Friday in the bitcoin (BTC) price appeared to reverse after a U.S. government report on the July employment situation showed the economy adding 528,000 jobs during the month, or twice what economists had forecast. The report could fuel speculation that the Federal Reserve might need to be more aggressive in its campaign to tighten monetary conditions in a bid to tamp down inflation running at its fastest in four decades. Such hawkish moves by the central bank tend to be negative factors for prices of risky assets, from stocks to cryptocurrencies. |
Thirty-minute BTC chart. (TradingView) |
The jobs report came at the end of a slow week in crypto that nevertheless brought signs of growing institutional adoption, with asset manager Brevan Howard pulling off the largest crypto hedge fund launch ever, with more than $1B in assets under management. BlackRock also formed a partnership with publicly traded crypto exchange Coinbase to make crypto directly available to institutional investors. Coinbase shares closed 10% higher yesterday after jumping almost 40% intraday. Derivatives giant Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) announced on Thursday it would roll out bitcoin euro and ether euro futures contracts on Aug. 29, pending regulatory approval. The world's largest cryptocurrency by market value appeared fairly unaffected by the positive news this week, it has been trading in a range of $22,900 - $24,500 over the last seven days, and lost 3% on the week. |
Ether (ETH) was down 3.4% on the week, amid concerns over the network's upcoming Merge. The Merge is set to take place in September. The Ethereum blockchain's planned shift to a "proof-of-stake" network will have a number of consequences, Citi (C) said in a research report Thursday. These include lower energy intensity, the transition into a deflationary asset and a "potential roadmap to a more scalable future through sharding," the bank said. Altcoins witnessed a positive week with Filecoin taking the lead with 40% gains. Fantom's FTM was up 14% and NEAR Protocol jumped 11%. |
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Meta's NFT Outreach Powers 38% Rally in FLOW Token |
By Omkar Godbole The token of Flow blockchain (FLOW) surged over 35% in the wake of Meta's decision to leverage the blockchain to expand its non-fungible tokens initiative. CoinDesk data shows FLOW rose 38% to $2.62 in the past 24 hours. Prices hit a high of $2.84 at point, the highest since May 31. The token ran into buying pressure after Meta announced the international expansion of its recently piloted digital collectibles feature on its photo and video-sharing platform Instagram and declared support for NFTs, digital tokens that represent ownership of physical or virtual assets, created on the Flow blockchain. The social media giant also announced support for Coinbase wallet and Dapper wallet as third-party wallets compatible for use as part of its expansion plan. The Flow blockchain was created by Dapper Labs and is best known for a NFT hit NBA Top Shot. In May, Dapper Labs unveiled a $725 million fund to boost "gaming, infrastructure, decentralized finance, content and creators" in the Flow ecosystem. The Flow token's price rally is backed by a triple-digit jump in futures open interest across major exchanges, including Binance, according to data tracked by coinglass. Open interest refers to the number of contracts traded but not squared off with an offsetting position. |
An increase in open interest means more money is being deployed in the FLOW market and validates the price rally. FLOW has topped its 100-day simple moving average (SMA), leaving both bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) behind, which continue to trade below the key SMA. However, the bigger downtrend is still intact as seen in the chart below. |
Chart of The Day by Omkar Godbole: ETH/BTC's Breaks 8-Month Bearish Trendline |
The 90-day put-call skew, which measures the difference between prices paid for puts relative to calls, continues to decline, indicating a weakening of bearish sentiment. According to data tracked by crypto analytics platform Genesis Volatility, call options or bullish bets have been in demand this week. "Both short-dated and long dated BTC calls bought outright with relatively cheap volatility," Genesis Volatility said in a market update published Thursday.
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With nearly a decade-long track record of being the world's largest digital currency asset manager, Grayscale is an industry leader for secure and regulated exposure to crypto. Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (Symbol: GDLC) is designed to capture the market capitalization weighted performance of some of the largest and most liquid digital assets. As with all of Grayscale's publicly-traded funds, investors can access the fund directly through brokerage or retirement accounts they already have - the same way they would for other asset classes like stocks and bonds. Simply type GDLC into an investment account, such as in Fidelity or Robinhood, to get started today. Learn more about Grayscale's publicly-traded products here. Investing involves risks and the possible loss of principal. |
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The following are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 digital assets over the past 24 hours: |
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Biggest Gainers Biggest Losers |
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Sector classifications are provided via the Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS), developed by CoinDesk Indices to provide a reliable, comprehensive, and standardized classification system for digital assets. The CoinDesk 20 is a ranking of the largest digital assets by volume on trusted exchanges. |
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Join 2,000+ attendees from the NEAR and Web3 ecosystem along with hundreds of hackers in the stunning coastal city of Lisbon for NEARCON, "Building Beyond the Hype," September 11-14. Part conference, part festival, and part IRL hackathon, for 3.5 days NEARCON will bring together authors, economists, artists, politicians, builders, multi-chain collaborators, and makers across many industries. NEARCON will be a welcoming, collaborative atmosphere for all. Promocode COINDESK for 35% off tickets! |
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Check out the CoinDesk TV show "First Mover," hosted by Christine Lee, Emily Parker and Lawrence Lewitinn at 9:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern time. - Dan Gunsberg, co-founder and CEO, Hxro
- Sasha Ivanov, founder and lead developer, Waves
- Tracy Wang, deputy managing editor, CoinDesk
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Where innovators, changemakers, investors and leaders present their best ideas for investing in the future of the Web 3, digital assets, blockchain and crypto ecosystems. Register now. |
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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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