BTC/ETH prices per CoinDesk Indices, as of 7 a.m. ET (11 a.m. UTC)
Bitcoin Rallies Above $29K
Over the space of 24 hours, bitcoin went from good to bad to somewhere in the middle.
The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was recently trading over $29,000, up more than 2.4% from the previous day but well off its Wednesday morning peak of $30,000. BTC fell as low as $27,264 at one point as investors considered some $310 million of losses from liquidations – both long and short positions – over a one-day period.
In an email to CoinDesk, Markus Levin, co-founder of blockchain-based geospatial oracle network XYO Network, also noted the possible impact of separate rumors that the the U.S. government was jettisoning a large amount of bitcoin, and that coins from long-disgraced crypto exchange Mt. Gox would be sold on the market. But Levin added optimistically that the market rebounded quickly – evidence of bitcoin's months-long resilience.
"It seems like these were primarily just rumors, however, what is interesting to see from all this is how much of the selling that was triggered by this event was ultimately absorbed by the market," he wrote. "The market is rather jittery right now, yes, but bitcoin is looking stronger and stronger from the lows late last year.”
Ether was recently trading at about $1,910, up 2.4% over the previous 24 hours and not far off where it started Wednesday. The second-largest crypto in market value dipped below $1,800 at one point on Wednesday. Other major cryptos also seesawed but were recently in the green. The CoinDesk Market Index, a measure of crypto markets performance, was recently up about 1.9%.
Asian markets were mixed Thursday morning with the Hang Seng and Nikkei up slightly. U.S. markets fared similarly with the Nasdaq closing up 0.4% but the S&P 500 falling 0.3%.
Can the Crypto Industry Find Consensus With Its Overseers?
One of the issues that happens whenever an industry grows is it becomes difficult to tell if everyone is speaking the same language. Nowhere is this clearer than in the conversations between builders of decentralized finance (DeFi) and financial regulators. Can linguistic consensus be found at Consensus? It seems unlikely.
For the most part, financial watchdogs in the U.S. (and the international bodies that are essentially offshoots of the U.S. Treasury Department) have said crypto clearly fits into the existing regulatory framework. Crypto’s governing rules have already been written, supposedly.
This article is excerpted from The Node newsletter, which will send two editions daily during the Consensus 2023 conference running down the biggest news from the event. You can subscribe to get the full newsletter here. It's not too late to get IRL or virtual tickets for Consensus 2023 here.
And so, you have situations like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, Gary Gensler, telling crypto operators to “come in and register” with the agency and FinCEN advocating for stricter know-your-customer/anti-money laundering requirements across crypto.
Crypto, with exceptions, has largely promoted itself as a square peg that cannot fit in the round hole of the so-called Howey Test (the guidance the SEC uses to determine whether something is a security, which essentially probes whether "the investing public is anticipating profits based on the efforts of others”).
Consensus 2023, the longest-running, yearly gathering of crypto leaders and communities from around the world got underway in Austin, Texas. CoinDesk TV was live on the ground with guests including Grayscale Investments CEO Michael Sonnenshein, Animoca Brands co-founder and Executive Chairman Yat Siu, Crypto.com Head of Derivatives North America Travis McGhee, and Hike founder and CEO Kavin Mittal. Grayscale Investments and CoinDesk are both owned by Digital Currency Group.
