Crypto Market Update

Rates have pared early morning losses after May JOLTS data showed 8.14 million job openings versus 7.91 million expected. Equities are showing slight gains, with the SPY 0.41%  increasing to $546 and the QQQ 0.19%  gaining to $484, helped by Tesla’s better-than-expected Q2 deliveries, leading to TSLA surging over 9%. Crypto assets are mixed, with majors showing declines and the broader altcoin market rallying. BTC is trading below $61.8k, and ETH is holding at $3,400, while the total altcoin market cap has gained 0.80% to approximately $610 billion. After Layer Zero’s (ZRO) disappointing token launch, which saw its price fall from $5.6 to $2.5 over the course of a few days, ZRO has increased more than 58% in the last four days, climbing back above $4.

Paxos Approved to Issue Stablecoins in Singapore

Paxos has received approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to issue stablecoins in Singapore under full compliance of the country’s stablecoin framework.  Paxos’ new entity, Paxos Digital Singapore, will operate as a Major Payments Institution (MPI) and offer digital payment token services. Only 19 companies have full MPI licenses in the region, and Singapore now represents Paxos’ third domicile where it’s eligible to issue stablecoins, along with the USA and UAE. In addition to announcing the approval, Paxos has disclosed that it is partnering with DBS Bank to support cash management and custody services. DBS is Southeast Asia’s largest bank by assets and is recognized as one of the safest banks in the region. The global regulatory framework for stablecoin issuers continues to develop, as yesterday Circle became the first MiCA-compliant company EU stablecoin issuance, and now Paxos has cleared similar regulatory hurdles in Singapore.

Robinhood Considering Futures in US/UK

Robinhood, a retail trading platform, hopes to offer crypto futures in its U.S. and European markets. Leveraging its acquisition of crypto exchange Bitstamp, Robinhood (HOOD -0.18% ) hopes to add the functionality once the deal closes, although that’s not expected until next year. Robinhood also reportedly wants to launch CME-based futures for Bitcoin and Ethereum. Crypto derivatives are a larger market compared to spot trading, with May derivatives volume on centralized exchanges totaling $3.69 trillion compared to $1.57 trillion in spot volume. Robinhood is aware of the derivatives preference among users, as equity options accounted for 47% of Robinhood’s Q1 transaction-based revenues, compared to equity spot volume only accounting for 12%. Beyond derivatives trading, Robinhood’s acquisition of Bitstamp should enhance the number of tradable crypto assets on the platform and allow them to expand into institutional product offerings, including lending and staking.  

Technical Strategy

Stellar has pushed up to test and arguably break its three-month downtrend and at current levels is set to close at the highest levels since 6/21. Today’s movement is a technical positive; However, more progress is needed before declaring that an imminent intermediate-term rally is underway. First resistance lies near 0.096 while movement over this should help XLM to push up to $0.10 which represents both Ichimoku resistance along with lining up approximately near former May lows.  Overall, XLM looks attractive tactically, but moving over $0.10 will be necessary before declaring that a rally to $0.124 is underway.

Daily Important Metrics Crypto Size Bullish signal is tied to the crypto market growing Market cap 2.31T +$8.3B (0.36%) BTC Dominance 53.42 % (-0.14%) Stablecoins Increase in circulating stablecoins is a Bullish signal In Circulation +$113B (-0.08%) In Exchanges +$19B (-0.08%) BTC Metrics A decrease in Bitcoin on exchanges is bullish, indicates investors are moving coins to cold storage # BTC Exchanges +$3.0M (-0.07%) Funding Rates Positive funding rates indicate traders are Bullish Aggregate +0.3772 (-0.5252) Binance +0.9990 (0.0957) Bitfinex +0.0443 (0.0600) Bitmex +1.0000 (-0.6685) ByBit -0.2891 (-0.3260) Deribit +0.0601 (-1.0482) Huobi +1.0000 (1.0000) Kraken +0.7350 (-1.7206) Mean +0.3772 (-0.5252) OKex -0.1986 (-0.5754) Sentiment BMI : 22 (100.00%) Futures A positive spread between Futures Prices and Spot Prices is Bullish CME Price $63,075 (0.17%) Spot Basis +$453 (0.72%) Volume 479,334 (33.10%) Open Interest 294,293 (-2.13%) Options all exchanges Higher open interest change in a bull market is bullish for the sector Volume 24,475 (154.15%) Open Interest 191,999 (5.83%) Vol. Put/Call Ratio 0.6778 (14.82%) OOI Put/Call Ratio 0.4790 (2.43%) All metrics as of 2024-07-02 12:00:23 All Funding rates are in bps Crypto Prices Symbol Market Cap Last Price Daily Change Year to Date Relative to BTC YTD BTC $1.22T $61,781 -2.11% 46.28% ETH $410B $3,407 -1.70% 49.75% 2.37% SOL $68B $148 -0.15% 45.38% -0.62% DOGE $934,860 $0.0009 8.30% -98.95% -99.28% All prices as of 2024-07-02 12:27:23 Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) Symbol Prem. to Nav Last Price Daily Change Year to Date Relative to BTC YTD BITW -32.38% $35 0.75% 49.36% 2.10% ETHE -0.47% $32 -1.73% 63.74% 11.94% News Quick Bits The Block Japanese firm Metaplanet buys more bitcoin, taking holdings to over $10 million Tokyo-listed investment firm Metaplanet has bought another 20.195 BTC worth $1.2 million, according to an announcement on Monday. CoinDesk Paxos Gains Singapore Approval for Stablecoin Issuance With DBS Providing Custody The Monetary Authority of Singapore released its stablecoin framework last year. The Block German government sends another $17.6 million in bitcoin to Coinbase, Bitstamp and Kraken: Arkham The government-labeled addresses have now sent around $193 million worth of bitcoin to known crypto exchange addresses since last month. The Block HashKey plans to distribute native token through tap-to-earn Telegram game The Asia-based crypto firm commenced its community airdrop today, urging users to participate through a mini-game on Telegram. Market Data The Block US spot bitcoin ETFs report $130 million in net inflows, largest influx in three weeks Fidelity’s FBTC led the inflows yesterday with $65 million, followed by Bitwise’s BITB, which recorded $41 million. Regulation The Block Bahamas plans regulations for banks to distribute Sand Dollar CBDC: report The Bahamas’ central bank hopes to boost adoption of its central bank digital currency with the potential new rules, Reuters reported. Fundraising and M&A The Block Mamori raises $5 million in Blockchain Capital-led seed funding Mamori aims to augment web3 security by developing an algorithm that can find issues in blockchain-based software. Mining The Block Iris Energy raised $413 million to fund bitcoin mining expansion The Nasdaq-listed bitcoin mining firm aims to reach 30 EH/s and 510 MW in data center capacities this year.