Author: Coindesk
Finance is increasingly a weapon of war. United States policymakers and our allies focus too narrowly on macroeconomic tools like sanctions and promoting the dollar as a reserve currency when the modern front is evolving. Today, the real battles are being waged on smartphones and in the global currency markets.China is waging a multi-decade plan to displace the United States’ greatest asset: the dollar. The dollar is critical to the United States’ economic and geopolitical power as the global reserve currency. Without it, our influence would weaken, and our debt would become a bigger problem. This is precisely what the…
Over the past year, the crypto industry has attracted users on an exponential scale, with monthly active addresses tripling from 70 million in 2023 to over 220 million in 2024. With over 300 chains listed, the ecosystem should be able to cater to the needs of all types of users sustainably. However, in this sprawling landscape, a majority of activity and liquidity is locked within multiple Ethereum Layer 2’s.In its current state, Ethereum is reminiscent of early 1500s Europe, which experienced breakthroughs like the printing press and advanced shipbuilding that enhanced resource management. Today, Ethereum’s flourishing DeFi ecosystem is equipped…
Disclaimer: The analyst who wrote this piece owns shares of MicroStrategy (MSTR)It’s been a tough month for MicroStrategy (MSTR), the software developer turned bitcoin (BTC) accumulator. Its stock has tumbled almost 50% since November, when it joined the Nasdaq 100 index and peaked at a 600% gain since the start of the year.That still leaves the Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company a whopping 342% ahead in 2024, the biggest return among the highest-profile crypto-linked assets in traditional finance (TradFi).It’s been a volatile year, packed with geopolitical and technological developments to rattle financial markets. The continuing wars in eastern Europe and the…
Ether (ETH), the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, is likely to outperform larger rival bitcoin (BTC) in 2025, Steno Research said in a report Sunday, citing historical trends and Donald Trump’s U.S. election victory.Bitcoin is predicted to reach a minimum of $150,000 next year, up from about $94,000, while ether will more than double to at least $8,000 from $,3400, the report said.Steno said it expects the ether/bitcoin ratio to rise to 0.06 in the next 12 months from the current 0.0357, echoing the price action seen in previous cycles.Altcoins will be in focus, it said. “This expectation is partly…
XRP trading volumes on South Korea’s biggest crypto exchanges have overtaken those of bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) in a sign of flurried interest that often precedes price volatility.Total trading volume against the won on UpBit, Bithumb and Korbit, the country’s largest exchanges by volumes and users, topped $800 million in dollar value in the past 24 hours.XRP registered over $200 million in volumes on Bithumb and $600 million on UpBit, with bitcoin (BTC) trading volumes less than half of those on both exchanges. Interest in other assets, such as dogecoin (DOGE) or ether (ETH) was even lower, reaching just…
Bearish trading in bitcoin (BTC) markets continued late Monday as the asset briefly fell under $92,000 on profit-taking despite another mammoth MicroStrategy purchase, recovering to just over $92,800 as of Asian morning hours Tuesday.Some traders expect the current price action to likely continue until February, weeks after president-elect Donald Trump takes office in the U.S. and sets into motion a barrage of policies that may help the market.”We are skeptical of any New Year fireworks especially with funding healthy,” traders at Singapore-based QCP Capital said in a Telegram broadcast. “January’s average returns (+3.3%) are relatively similar to December’s (+4.8%), and…
The U.S. is likely to hit the maximum it’s legally allowed to borrow at some point between Jan. 14 and Jan. 23, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a Friday letter to the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson. After that, the Treasury will take “extraordinary measures” to cut borrowing.”I respectfully urge Congress to act to protect the full faith and credit of the United States,” she wrote. In June 2023, Congress suspended the debt limit until Jan. 1, 2025. Risk assets weakened into the market close, just before the letter was publicized. U.S. equities fell, with the…
CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 3254.32, down 1.8% (-60.38) since 4 p.m. on Friday.Three of 20 assets are trading higher.Leaders: SOL (+2.5%) and APT (+0.8%).Laggards: XLM (-6.6%) and LINK (-6.2%).The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally. Read the full article here
Crypto prices are experiencing a rocky Monday due to poor U.S. macroeconomic data and rampant profit-taking.Bitcoin (BTC) has dropped 1.8% in the past 24 hours to $91,800, a price not seen since Dec. 5, the day it broke through $100,000 for the first time. The largest cryptocurrency has fallen more than 14% from its Dec. 17 record of $108,278.Ether (ETH) has lost less, falling 0.7% to $3,320, though it’s now 17% below its December highs, and still has not surpassed the record $4,820 it hit in 2021. Solana (SOL) is also proving a little stronger than bitcoin, with the SOL/BTC…
In retrospect, it was inevitable.Down more than 8% and holding just above $300 on Monday, MicroStrategy (MSTR) shares are now lower by about 30% since just after the announcement of their inclusion into the Nasdaq-100 index and nearly 50% from their late November record high.The signs of at least a major short-term top in one-time barely known enterprise software company turned juggernaut Bitcoin Development Company MicroStrategy were everywhere.First among those signals was the rocketing stock price — at its high of $543 in late November, MSTR was up nearly eight-fold in 2024 and more than a 50-bagger since the company…