Hong-Kong Continues Crypto Hub Agenda, OKX to Return $157 Million to FTX Bankruptcy Estate
Market Update
- Traditional markets are rallying today amid easing bank concerns and speculation that the Fed may be done raising interest rates. The SPX has risen 0.25%, while the NDQ is up 0.52% at the time of writing. The Fed’s preferred inflation metric, the PCE index, will be released tomorrow morning and should fuel further speculation on whether or not any further rate hikes remain in 2023. Crypto markets are trailing equities, with BTC (-1.79%) breaking below $28k and ETH (-1.25%) hovering around $1770. Decentralized exchange Trader Joe (JOE) has shown impressive gains in March, rising 140%. Successfully launching on Arbitrum has attracted fresh users and liquidity to the platform, significantly boosting the DEX’s daily fees and establishing itself as a major player within the Arbitrum ecosystem.
Figure: Trader Joe Daily Fees
Source: Token Terminal
- ProDigital Future, a Hong-Kong based investment fund, is planning to raise $100 million this year to invest in digital asset companies. ProDigital has already secured $30 million in funding over the past six months but is looking to triple that by the end of the year. The fundraise comes as Hong Kong furthers its agenda to become a hub for the digital economy. In February, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published guidelines for digital asset trading platforms to follow, which would grant retail customers access to licensed exchanges. Also, Hong Kong is actively engaging with industry leaders and has sent officials to Japan to consult with regulators to gain a more holistic view of the industry. This is in stark contrast to the United States, which continues to regulate via enforcement and seems to be trying to stifle the industry. According to a new report by Electric Capital, the U.S. is losing market share of blockchain engineers. The report projects that 1 million engineering jobs and 3 million non-technical jobs are at risk of moving offshore by 2030 if the domestic regulatory environment doesn’t improve.
- Crypto exchange, OKX has agreed to transfer $157 million of frozen digital assets from FTX and Alameda accounts to the FTX bankruptcy estate. OKX was investigating FTX/Alameda activity on their platform but has concluded the investigation and approved the unfreezing of the assets. OKX released a statement saying they “will continue to cooperate with the FTX debtors and law enforcement officials in the hope that these assets will eventually be returned to FTX users through bankruptcy.” The latest updates from the FTX legal proceedings include a new indictment of Sam Bankman-Fried for allegedly bribing Chinese officials $40 million to unfreeze accounts, bringing the total number of charges against him to thirteen. Additionally, it has been revealed that SBF’s legal defense is being paid from a former multi-million dollar gift SBF gave to his father in 2021. The large “gift” was made possible via a loan from Alameda. There is a hearing scheduled for today regarding the updated indictment.
Daily Technical Strategy
Mark L. Newton, CMT
Head of Technical Strategy
Please note Mark is travelling and unable to provide analysis today. See below for yesterday's technical commentary.
GALA's rally to multi-day highs suggests some reprieve to recent selling after nearly two weeks of decline. GALA has been slowly but surely stabilizing following its pullback from late January. The near-term trend turned back to bullish on the breakout in March and now its recent consolidation over the last couple weeks also looks complete. The ability to close Wednesday above 0.04077 should allow for a push back up to 0.05, and exceeding that would help spark a larger rally to test former highs made in late January near 0.065 and higher. Recent weakness since mid-March has failed to properly show sufficient technical damage to be negative, and the pattern appears to show steady improvement. Only on a drop under 0.03 would the rally be interrupted, so, barring a material breakdown, longs are favored, and GALA's chart should continue to show intermediate-term improvement as the rally progresses.
Daily Important Metrics
All metrics as of March 30, 2023 2:05 PM
All Funding rates are on bps
Crypto Prices
Symbol | Market Cap | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
BTC | $538B | $27,816 | ↓ -1.50% | ↑ 68% | |
ETH | $217B | $1,771 | ↓ -1.45% | ↑ 48% | ↓ -20% |
ADA | $13B | $0.3711 | ↓ -4.02% | ↑ 50% | ↓ -18% |
DOGE | $10B | $0.0738 | ↓ -2.39% | ↑ 5.24% | ↓ -63% |
MATIC | $9.9B | $1.08 | ↓ -2.80% | ↑ 42% | ↓ -26% |
SOL | $7.8B | $20.36 | ↓ -3.58% | ↑ 106% | ↑ 38% |
DOT | $7.1B | $6.04 | ↓ -2.45% | ↑ 39% | ↓ -29% |
LINK | $3.7B | $7.17 | ↓ -2.17% | ↑ 29% | ↓ -39% |
NEAR | $1.7B | $1.91 | ↓ -2.93% | ↑ 50% | ↓ -18% |
Exchange Traded Products (ETPs)
Symbol | Premium to Nav | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
GBTC | ↓ -38% | $15.58 | ↓ -1.64% | ↑ 88% | ↑ 20% |
BITW | ↓ -56% | $10.82 | ↓ -0.98% | ↑ 101% | ↑ 34% |
ETHE | ↓ -52% | $8.12 | ↓ -2.17% | ↑ 71% | ↑ 2.68% |
BTCC | ↑ 0.28% | $5.12 | ↓ -2.10% | ↑ 69% | ↑ 1.07% |
News
QUICK BITS
CoinDesk Andy Warhol Artworks to Be Offered as Tokenized Investments on Ethereum Four of Warhol's famous works were "partially acquired" from well-known art collectors, and each work will be available as shares in the form of security tokens... |
CryptoPotato SBF is Paying His Legal Fees Using Alameda’s Money: Report Buried in a mountain of charges from the Justice Department, Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is reportedly paying his legal fees with money gifted to his... |
CryptoPotato Kraken Becomes Official Sponsor of F1 Team Williams Racing Did you think Crypto-F1 deals were over? Kraken has just signed a sponsorship contract with the top F1 team Williams Racing. |
MARKET DATA
CoinDesk USDC Outflows Surpass $10B as Tether’s Stablecoin Dominance Reaches 22-Month High Rival stablecoin tether (USDT) has grown to its most dominant since May 2021, now representing 60% of all stablecoins in circulation. |
REGULATION
Coin Telegraph FDIC plans to return $4B in Signature crypto deposits 'by early next week' — Martin Gruenberg The Treasury Department's Under Secretary for Domestic Finance Nellie Liang said at the same hearing she didn’t believ... |
CoinJournal Beaxy Exchange suspends operations after the US SEC charges The US SEC has filed several charges against the Beaxy Exchange. The exchange has consequently suspended operations In its defence, Beaxy has said that it commi... |
FUNDRAISING AND M&A
Coin Telegraph Hong Kong fund plans to raise $100 million for crypto investment The new Hong Kong-based equity fund will focus on the regional market and embrace Web3 startups. ... |
CryptoSlate Fetch.ai seizes $40M investment despite decline in AI sector token performance As the world increasingly relies on artificial intelligence (AI) to power everything from search engines to self-driving cars, it’s no surprise that traders and... |
GAMING
Coin Telegraph Shrapnel wows at GDC, Undead Blocks hot take, Second Trip: Web3 Gamer First-person shooter Shrapnel blows gamers away at GDC, Otherside’s Second Trip vs Fortnite, Callan gets killed by zom... |
PRODUCT UPDATES AND PARTNERSHIPS
CoinDesk Axie Infinity’s Ronin Blockchain Overhauls Tech, Expands to New Game Studios a Year After $625M Hack Ronin will transition to a delegated proof-of-stake consensus mechanism and expand beyond Axie Infinity’s IP. |
GAMING
Coin Telegraph Shrapnel wows at GDC, Undead Blocks hot take, Second Trip: Web3 Gamer First-person shooter Shrapnel blows gamers away at GDC, Otherside’s Second Trip vs Fortnite, Callan gets killed by zom... |
HACKS, EXPLOITS, AND SCAMS
CryptoPotato OKX to Return $157M of Frozen Assets Linked to FTX and Alameda OKX investigation discovered accounts holding $157 million in virtual assets owned by FTX and Alameda. |
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