BTC market capitalization reaches highest level since 2021.4; US lawmakers support stablecoin legislation

Headlines

▌Bitcoin's market capitalization share reaches highest level since April 2021

According to Coinglass, long liquidations on centralized exchanges on Saturday were worth more than $757 million, but Bitcoin positions were only $261 million. While most crypto assets do fall into the "risk" category for traders, Bitcoin is arguably the least risky cryptocurrency, with the largest market capitalization and a good track record of institutional adoption. On the other hand, something like Dogecoin is more speculative, and Dogecoin fell nearly 30% from Friday's high to Saturday's low. On Sunday, Bitcoin's dominance, or the share of Bitcoin's market capitalization relative to the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies, jumped to 52.86%, the highest level since April 2021.

▌US Congressman Cryptocurrency Skeptic Sherrod Brown is open to advancing stablecoin legislation

US Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown, a cryptocurrency skeptic who manages the influential Senate Banking Committee, is open to advancing long-sought stablecoin legislation. However, Brown said his concerns must be addressed before he can fully support stablecoin laws. Brown’s initial support for moving forward with the legislation could be an important sign of progress. His Democratic Party controls the U.S. Senate, setting legislative priorities. In the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, retiring Rep. Patrick McHenry recently said he remains optimistic that the U.S. will be able to enact new stablecoin laws this year.

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC's latest transaction price is $64085.45, with a daily increase or decrease of +1.36%;

ETH's latest transaction price is $3101.18, with a daily increase or decrease of +0.64%;

BNB's latest transaction price is $540.38, with a daily increase or decrease of -1.45%；

ORDI's latest transaction price is 42.98 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of +0.22%；

DOGE's latest transaction price is 0.1573 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -0.5%；

SOL's latest transaction price is 138.01 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of +0.58%。

Policy

▌South Korean, Japanese and Singaporean regulators may follow Hong Kong in approving spot Bitcoin ETFs

After Hong Kong regulators approved spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in principle, other Asian regulators may also take similar actions. South Korea, Japan and Singapore may follow Hong Kong in approving virtual asset ETFs. Karim Saber, research assistant at cryptocurrency ETP issuer 21Shares, said that the victory of the pro-Bitcoin South Korean opposition party in the April election may lead to regulators approving Bitcoin ETFs as early as this year; Tim Bevan, CEO of cryptocurrency ETP issuer ETC Group, expects Japan and South Korea to approve such products in the next 6 to 12 months.

▌Cyprus regulator extends suspension of FTX EU license to September 30

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has again extended the suspension of FTX (EU) Ltd’s license, the local subsidiary of the now defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, with the latest suspension set to last until September 30, 2024. It is reported that the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission initially suspended the FTX EU license in November 2022 and has since extended the suspension several times. Although FTX EU has entered bankruptcy proceedings, the Cypriot regulator stressed that as long as the license is suspended, the exchange cannot “provide/conduct investment services/activities, conduct any commercial transactions with any person and accept any new transactions.”

Blockchain Applications

▌Tokenization Company PV01 Tokenizes $5 Million Treasury Note and Plans to Consider Corporate Bond Tokenization

PV01, a tokenization company led by the founder of cryptocurrency market maker B2C2, has completed its first tokenized bond sale under UK law, marking a key step towards the goal of creating a bond market (including corporate debt) on blockchain rails. The asset is an Ethereum blockchain tokenized version of a single $5 million U.S. Treasury note issued on April 8 and redeemed a week later. Market makers B2C2, BlockTower Capital and Keyrock invested in PV01's "proof of concept" issuance. The company "hopes" to facilitate a tokenized corporate bond sale for a cryptocurrency company in the "coming months."

Cryptocurrency

▌EigenLayer: All LST asset caps have been lifted, re-staking is now open

EigenLayer, the Ethereum re-staking protocol, announced on the X platform that all Liquid Staking Token (LST) caps have been lifted, and LST re-staking is now open, and ETH can be re-staked through the EigenPod on the EigenLayer application.

▌Pyth Network launches PRCL/USD price feed service

Decentralized oracle service Pyth Network announced the launch of the PRCL/USD price feed service on the X platform, and will be available on more than 55 blockchains.

▌Ethereum has about $50.67 million in on-chain lending and liquidation quotas around $2,831

According to DefiLlama data, Ethereum has about $50.67 million in on-chain lending and liquidation quotas around $2,831.

▌Paxos: Spot gold fluctuations lead to PAXG rise

Paxos posted on the X platform that since last weekend, the spot price of gold has fluctuated sharply, and the price of gold stablecoin PAXG on various exchanges has risen. Paxos said that holding PAXG means directly owning London qualified delivery gold that Paxos keeps in a London vault, 1 PAXG = 1 troy ounce of gold, but on Friday, April 12, 2024, the spot price of 1 ounce of gold fluctuated by more than $100, which is unprecedented. Each exchange is its own ecosystem with unique behavior. For example, the PAXG price on DEX exchanges such as Uniswap is relatively stable, while the PAXG price on CEX exchanges varies greatly, which is expected because the liquidity of different venues varies.

▌Data: Blur's total transaction volume reached 10 billion US dollars

DappRadar data shows that the total transaction volume of NFT aggregation platform Blur has reached the milestone of 10 billion US dollars, and the current total number of traders on the platform is about 396,430. Historical data shows that the transaction volume of the Blur platform exceeded 8 billion US dollars in mid-January this year, exceeded 9 billion US dollars in early March, and exceeded 9.5 billion US dollars on March 16, which means that the indicator value has increased by more than 5% in the past month.   In terms of other NFT markets, the current total transaction volume of OpenSea NFT market is about 36.78 billion US dollars, and the total number of traders is about 5.32 million; the total transaction volume of LooksRare is 4.86 billion US dollars, and the total number of traders exceeds 156,000.

▌A whale transferred 5,000 ETH to Kraken, about $15.2 million

According to Lookonchain monitoring, 56 minutes ago, a whale transferred 5,000 ETH to Kraken, about $15.2 million. From September 3, 2022 to September 7, 2022, the whale withdrew 96,638 ETH (about $151.42 million at the time) from Coinbase at an average price of $1,567. The whale currently still holds 76,638 ETH (about $233.56 million), with a total profit of about $153.7 million.

▌Paris Saint-Germain Football Club Victory Over Barcelona, ​​Fan Token Rise 25%

Paris Saint-Germain Football Club’s fan token PSG surged on Tuesday as the French team beat rivals Barcelona 4-1 in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals. The token saw a strong rally early in the first half, starting with PSG’s first goal, with a gain of up to 25%. It climbed until around the middle of the second half, reaching $5.20, before selling off a bit before the win. Meanwhile, Barcelona’s fan token BAR fell 4.2% after Tuesday’s loss. PSG’s fan token is one of several tokens issued by cryptocurrency firm Socios for sports clubs.

▌Spot Bitcoin ETF Hype Dies Down, Returning to Normal

After weeks of heavy buying, spot Bitcoin ETF flows have slowed. Only BlackRock’s IBIT continues to see consecutive daily positive inflows. One expert said this is a normal development in the ETF space.

Important Economic Dynamics

▌Inflation continues to be sticky, Powell hints at a delay in rate cuts

Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said recent inflation data suggests it may take longer for the central bank to gain the confidence it needs to cut rates. Powell noted a lack of further progress on inflation after a rapid decline at the end of last year. He said the Fed could keep interest rates stable as long as necessary if price pressures persist. He said it would be appropriate to give restrictive policies more time to work and let data and changing prospects guide the Fed given the strength of the labor market and progress in inflation so far.

▌The three major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed

The three major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed, with the Dow up 0.17%, the Nasdaq down 0.12%, and the S&P 500 down 0.21%. Hot technology stocks rose and fell, with Nvidia up more than 1%, Tesla down more than 2%, and Apple down nearly 2% with a market value of less than $500 billion.

▌Fed Mouthpiece: Powell lowers expectations for rate cuts

Fed Mouthpiece Nick Timiraos wrote that Fed Chairman Powell said strong inflation in the first quarter has brought new uncertainty to whether the Fed can lower interest rates this year without signs of an economic slowdown. His remarks indicate a clear shift in the Fed's outlook after inflation data was stronger than expected for the third consecutive month, which seems to have dashed hopes that the Fed may preemptively cut interest rates. Powell also said that if inflation continues to be above 2%, the Fed may keep interest rates at their current highs for a longer period of time. This remark suggests that if inflation is stronger than expected, further rate hikes are unlikely.

Golden Encyclopedia

▌What is censorship resistance in blockchain technology?

The anti-censorship features of blockchain include: decentralization, unalterable ledgers, transparency, and encryption. Bitcoin's decentralized consensus mechanism, anonymity, and decentralized governance enable it to withstand censorship attempts by any centralized institution and maintain the immutability of its transactions. In the Bitcoin network, miners compete to add transactions to the blockchain and verify them by solving difficult mathematical puzzles. Since the network cannot be controlled by a single party, censorship becomes a challenging task. Any attempt to filter transactions must overwhelm the total processing capacity of the network, which becomes increasingly difficult as the network becomes larger.

Disclaimer: As a blockchain information platform, Golden Finance publishes articles for information reference only and is not intended as actual investment advice. Please establish correct investment concepts and be sure to increase risk awareness.