price

Bitcoin price briefly hits $29K despite recent Binance crackdown

Despite ongoing crypto crackdowns, the price of BTC briefly tipped over $29,000on March 30, clocking a new high for 2023.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) briefly tipped over $29,000 on March 30, recording a new high for the year, despite recent United States regulatory crackdowns on crypto firms and related uncertainty. 

According to Cointelegraph Markets Pro, the price of Bitcoin reached $29,132.82 on March 30, reaching levels seen just before the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX in early November 2022.

Bitcoin’s price over 24 hours. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

The increase comes despite a range of regulatory crackdowns in recent days, such as the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission lawsuit against Binance and its CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao on March 27.

Bitcoin’s price bounce-back in the wake of such a bombshell development drew surprise from many industry commentators. Some believe this is due to speculation the lawsuit will only result in minor fines for the leading crypto exchange by transaction volume.

Related: Bitcoin price jumps above $28K after 1.5K BTC shorts ‘blown out’

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index — which aims to numerically present the current “emotions and sentiments” toward Bitcoin and other large cryptocurrencies — has been steadily increasing over the last month, despite wobbles in the global banking sector.

The crypto Fear & Greed Index. Source: Alternative.me

Some traders have argued that the recent price rebounds may have been due to large-volume traders buying back in, which was more related to their buying strategies rather than fundamentals.

Breaking: Bitcoin slips under $20K amid Biden budget, Silvergate collapse

The price of BTC briefly slipped under $20,000 on March 10, although at time of writing was hovering just above that level.

Bitcoin (BTC) briefly slipped below $20,000 for the first time in nearly two months, following the latest budget from United States President Joe Biden and the collapse of “crypto-bank” Silvergate.

The price of BTC dipped to $19,945 on March 10 before recovering to hover just above $20,000, according to data from CoinMarketCap. 

Bitcoin had a stellar start to 2023 but fell as much as 5% in an hour on March 3 amid uncertainty at Silvergate. The price doesn’t appear to have been able to lift since.

Price chart of Bitcoin over the last seven days. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

The announcement that Silvergate Bank, one of the key banks in the United States that services crypto firms, had entered into voluntary liquidation on March 8 has emerged as a possible strong headwind for the crypto industry.

Related: Bitcoin price drops to $20.8K as regulatory and macroeconomic pressure mounts

Meanwhile, a supplementary budget explainer paper on March 9 revealed that United States crypto miners could eventually be subject to a 30% tax on electricity costs under a Biden budget proposal that aims to “reduce mining activity.”

Bitcoin price slides 5% in 60 minutes amid Silvergate uncertainty

The price of BTC fell sharply on March 3, wiping $22 billion from Bitcoin’s market cap.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) fell more than 5% from $23,500 to $22,240 in just over 60 minutes on March 3, amid a wave of uncertainty concerning crypto-friendly bank Silvergate Capital. 

The price drop wiped $22 billion from Bitcoin’s total market capitalization, which is now at $430.9 billion, according to Cointelegraph Markets Pro.

Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), Cardano (ADA), MATIC (MATIC) and other non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies also suffered a similar sharp decline.

Markus Thielen, the head of research at digital asset platform Matrixport, told Cointelegraph that he believes the price fall is linked to the recent Silvergate Bank controversy with its delayed annual 10-K financial report filing, in addition to an increased effort by United States regulators attempting to restrict ties between banks and crypto firms:

“The drop is due to the continuous fallout from Silvergate Bank, as there is now more uncertainty about fiat on-and-off ramp. In addition, there are now wider industry concerns that U.S. regulators are trying to cut off further banking relationships between crypto firms and FDIC-insured banks.”

“Nevertheless, this is playing into the hands of Hong Kong and China, which are becoming more crypto-friendly.”

“We have seen an increase in stablecoin activity as a sign that crypto firms are using crypto rails to move money around,” he added.

Several technical analysts on Twitter claimed to have predicted the fall from the $23,000 resistance.

Bitcoin price chart. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro.

The last time BTC was priced at $22,250 was Feb. 15.

The sharp fall comes despite a solid start to 2023, with BTC still up 34.8% for the year. It was changing hands at $16,550 on Jan. 1.

Ether has also fallen 4.74% from $1,644 to $1,566, causing a $9 billion wipeout from its market cap over the first hour.

Ether price chart. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro.

C-C-C-Combo breaker: Bitcoin ends ‘ridiculous’ 14-day winning streak

Bitcoin was on the road to breaking a nearly 10-year-old record but the price dip over the past day put a stop to the multi-day win streak.

The two-week-long Bitcoin (BTC) winning streak has finally come to an end after the cryptocurrency formed its first red candle on Jan. 18.

The day prior, BTC was shaping up to match or even beat its November 2013 record of 15 consecutive days of positive price movement, the longest of such streaks in its history.

While the record wasn’t beaten, Bitcoin did post the longest win streak since the 2013 record in a “ridiculous” run up according to some commentators on Twitter.

Cointelegraph data shows Bitcoin neared a 2.4% loss over the day and was back under $21,000, a value it hadn’t reached since the bankruptcy of crypto exchange FTX in early November last year.

Related: Tucker Carlson outlines wild theory to explain Bitcoin price rise: ‘Maximum tin foil’

The primary cause for the negative price action appeared to be an ominous announcement by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) earlier on Jan. 18 saying it would “announce an international cryptocurrency enforcement action.”

Many speculated it could be against a major exchange or crypto company, but it turned out the action was against a little-known exchange called Bitzlato based in Hong Kong with ties to Russia. The exchange’s founder, Anatoly Legkodymov, was also arrested.

C-C-C-Combo breaker: Bitcoin ends ‘ridiculous’ 14-day winning streak

Bitcoin was on the road to breaking a nearly 10-year-old record but the price dip over the past day put a stop to the multi-day win streak.

The two-week-long Bitcoin (BTC) winning streak has finally come to an end, after the cryptocurrency formed its first red candle on Jan. 18.

The day prior, BTC was shaping up to match or even beat its November 2013 record of 15 consecutive days of positive price movement, the longest of such streaks in its history.

While the record wasn’t beaten, Bitcoin did post the longest win streak since the 2013 record in a “ridiculous” run-up, according to some commentators on Twitter.

Cointelegraph data shows Bitcoin neared a 2.4% loss over the day and was back under $21,000, a value it hadn’t reached since the bankruptcy of crypto exchange FTX in early November last year.

Related: Tucker Carlson outlines wild theory to explain Bitcoin price rise: ‘Maximum tin foil’

The primary cause for the negative price action appeared to be an ominous announcement by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) earlier on Jan. 18, saying it would “announce an international cryptocurrency enforcement action.”

Many speculated it could be against a major exchange or crypto company, but it turned out the action was against a little-known exchange called Bitzlato based in Hong Kong with ties to Russia. The exchange’s founder, Anatoly Legkodymov, was also arrested.

It’ll be OK: DCG crisis likely won’t ‘include a lot of selling’ — Novogratz

Digital Currency Group’s ongoing financial distress isn’t likely to cause much further strain on crypto prices, according to Galaxy Digital Holdings CEO Mike Novogratz.

Galaxy Digital Holdings CEO Mike Novogratz has hosed down fears over the crisis facing Digital Currency Group (DCG) and Genesis, saying while it’s “not good news,” it won’t “include a lot of selling.”

In a Jan. 10 interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Novogratz said he expects the current debacle facing DCG and its related companies to “play out” over the next quarter.

“There are still some overhangs — DCG and Genesis and Gemini — that will play out in the next quarter. That’s not going to be great,” said Novogratz, adding:

“I don’t think it will include a lot of selling, it’s just not good news.”

DCG is a major crypto conglomerate known as the owner and operator of Grayscale Investments, the world’s biggest digital asset manager.

It also owns institutional lending company Genesis, advisory company Foundry, crypto exchange Luno and crypto media company CoinDesk.

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Novogratz’s opinion is in stark contrast to a Jan. 4 report from Arcane Research warning investors to pay attention to the “ongoing financial distress” at DCG as the outcome “could severely impact crypto markets.”

It argued if DCG were to enter bankruptcy the company could be forced to liquidate assets and sell sizeable positions in its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and other crypto-related trusts, which would put pressure on crypto prices.

However, Novogratz argued that both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) have held “pretty steady” despite “a lot of bad news” over the last few months and have even seen an uptick over the last few days.

“It’s a pretty clean market right now,” said Novogratz, referring to investors who have sold or reduced leverage in recent months.

Alarm bells first began ringing for DCG and Genesis late last year, after Genesis halted withdrawals on Nov. 16 citing “unprecedented market turmoil” caused by the collapse of FTX and Three Arrows Capital.

In an open letter directed to DCG CEO Barry Silbert on Jan. 2, Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss alleged that DCG-owned Genesis was yet to pay back a $900 million loan it owes to Gemini, which was due to DCG owing Genesis $1.675 billion.

On Jan. 10, Winklevoss penned a second letter, this time toward DCG’s board of directors, claiming Silbert and DCG only “pretended” to fill a $1.2 billion hole in the Genesis balance sheet. He said Silbert was “unfit” to run the company and called for his removal, effective immediately.

Coinbase layoff was ‘the right thing’

The Galaxy CEO also commented on Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s recent decision to cut another 20% of its workforce in a bid to further reduce operating costs.

Last year “was a grand washout for growth stocks and for crypto, and so anything associated with it […] that had big costs and revenue shrinking — got hammered,” said Novogratz.

“I think CEOs [including] Brian at Coinbase, and any rational CEO, is doing the right thing.”

Novogratz said the outlook for crypto isn’t horrible, but it’s also “not great.”

“We’ve got regulatory headwinds that we didn’t have before. We’ve got time to heal and rebuild narrative and so people are going to cut costs and survive this transition period,” he said, adding:

“2023 is a year you want to survive and catch the uptick.”

USD stablecoin premiums surge in Argentina following economy minister’s resignation

Argentina has been in a long-standing battle against rising inflation and a continued decline of the peso against the U.S. dollar.

Argentina, a country with one of the highest crypto adoption rates in the world, saw the price of United States dollar-pegged stablecoins surge across exchanges on Saturday after the abrupt resignation of its Economy Minister, Martin Guzman. 

The minister’s shock exit, confirmed on his Twitter account on Sunday via a seven-page letter, threatens to further destabilize a struggling economy battling high inflation and a depreciating national currency.

According to data from Criptoya, the cost of buying Tether (USDT) using Argentinian pesos (ARS) is currently 271.4 ARS through the Binance exchange, which is around a 12% premium from before the resignation announcement, and a 116.25% premium compared to the current fiat exchange rate of USD/ARS.

The local crypto price tracking website has also revealed a similar jump in other USD-pegged stablecoins, including Dai (DAI), Binance USD (BUSD), Pax Dollar (USDP) and Dollar on Chain (DOC).

Argentineans have been piling into crypto as a means to hedge against the country’s rising inflation and a continued fall of the Argentinean peso against the USD.

In 2016, before inflation really took its toll, one USD was only able to buy around 14.72 Argentinean pesos. However, six years later, one USD is able to buy as many as 125.5 ARS.

The extra premium on U.S.-dollar pegged stablecoins is the result of a law passed on September 1, 2019, called Decree No. 609/2019, and has made it virtually impossible for Argentinians to exchange more than $200 in greenbacks per month at the official exchange rate.

It was imposed as a means to prevent the Argentinean peso from free-falling amid a struggling economy. In May, the Argentinean annual inflation rate accelerated for the fourth straight month, hitting 60.7%, according to Trading Economics.

Related: Argentina carries out crypto wallet seizures linked to tax delinquents

The South American nation has the sixth-highest adoption rate globally, with around 21% of Argentineans estimated to have used or owned crypto by 2021, according to Statista.

In May, Cointelegraph reported that “crypto penetration” in Argentina had reached 12%, double that of Peru, Mexico, and other countries in the region, primarily driven by citizens seeking safe haven against rising inflation.

In addition to Bitcoin, Argentineans have been turning to stablecoins increasingly as a means of storing value in the United States dollar.