From Standard Chartered predicting BTC to reach $100k in 2024 to a famous banker calling BTC destined to fail, here is a 2-min breakdown of everything important that happened in crypto today.
After October's exhilarating green candles had crypto traders flying high, November has seen the regulators deflate the party balloons. Subpoenas and new rules are raining down, harshing the buzz. Yet prices seem less shaken than expected, meaning there's still hope glimmering through the FUD.
So today we’ll cover the top crypto news bits to keep you in the loop:
- Coinbase receives subpoena related to Bybit probe 🔍
- Standard Chartered analysts reaffirm $100K Bitcoin price prediction 🚀
- Ark Invest dumps Coinbase stock for Robinhood 📈
- Retail crypto trading goes live in Hong Kong 🇭🇰
- Upbit’s parent company’s profits plunge 81% as bear market bleeds the firm 📉
- Spain requires disclosure of foreign crypto funds 🕵️♂️
- Singapore banker predicts failure of "private" coins ❌
Now let’s dive deeper into each headline...
Coinbase Receives Subpoena 🔍
This week Coinbase discretely informed some users that their account data may now live in regulators’ sights, bound by subpoena for undisclosed reasons. This legal order to reveal customer information apparently involves a fellow major exchange, Bybit, adding further intrigue.
With scarcely any hard details emerging, mysteries explode around what specifically triggered the probe and why it ties two far-flung crypto firms under the microscope.
We know Coinbase and Bybit occupy two different corners of the crypto arena, the former is a popular fiat gateway for retail traders, and the latter focuses on derivatives. What common ground provokes a CFTC investigation overlapping both?
Alas, further waiting and wondering remains for now regarding Coinbase’s reluctant data sharing. But who exactly received this email? Are you one of those users? Read more!
Bitcoin To Hit $100K 🚀
While crypto markets finally seem to be coming out of crypto winter, bold Standard Chartered analysts reaffirmed their $100,000 Bitcoin price prediction for December 2024 this week.
What unique point do these financial analysts have that keeps them adamant enormous gains await next year?
Persistent optimism against all odds stands out as reason enough to hear them out further.
Wondering what triggered their prediction? Read more!
And that brings us to our Word of the Day…
It’s ‘Crypto Winter’!
Much like Game of Thrones' ominous warnings of dark years-long winters, crypto heads face long periods of fear when markets fall deep into the red for months or years on end. The bears come out of hibernation, mauling markets as funds freeze up while investors look to stablecoin as shelter.
Even the heartiest HODLers second guess their diamond hands when negative narratives take over and token values sink lower with each passing news cycle. Crisis and controversy abound, mass liquidations happen ever faster, and trust sinks like the Titanic.
Crypto winters, though savage and bitter, do not last forever. After each crypto winter, there is a bull market!
But did you know that crypto winters and bear markets are not the same thing? Read more!
And now back to our daily stories!
Ark Invest Sells Coinbase Stock 📈
Legendary stock picker Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest dumped $5 million worth of recently hyped Coinbase shares this week even as the exchange’s stock tapped 18-month highs.
Simultaneously Ark loaded up on Robinhood stock. Do these moves signal mere portfolio rebalancing? Or shifting winds around Coinbase’s future even as short-term momentum clearly builds?
Coinbase is riding high lately thanks to re-surged crypto optimism stoking its revenue engine back to life after months stuck in dry dock. One South Korean pension fund clearly agrees, having invested $20 million in the exchange just last week.
But there is a solid reason for Ark Invest’s move… and no, it’s not the subpoena! Read the full story!
Retail Trading Goes Live in HK 🇭🇰
A prominent global brokerage unlocked retail crypto trading access this week for Hong Kong customers through a licensing deal with local exchange OSL.
The partnership initially allows buying and selling Bitcoin and Ether alongside traditional assets like stocks and commodities through a unified interface.
Undoubtedly demand exists to gain digital asset exposure from trusted financial names. But the plague of frauds jeopardizes mainstream confidence badly needed to nurture this nascent crypto integration.
Just last week local police busted another textbook crypto Ponzi scheme posing as DeFi.
This platform is backed by a popular brokerage firm, which is a positive sign for crypto adoption. Read the full story!
Bear Market Bleeds Firm Profits 📉
Leading South Korean crypto exchange Upbit’s parent company Dunamu saw profits plunge by 81% last quarter as bearish sentiment paralyzed markets.
With transaction activity slowing to a whimper, the company barely cleared $23 million in net income - an 81% dive.
Yet even as customers vanish, hackers barrage relentlessly. Upbit suffered over 150,000 cyber intrusion attempts just since January, a 117% surge compared to last year’s already hot wartime levels.
How does this affect Upbit and its sustainability? Read more!
Spain’s After Foreign Crypto Funds 🕵️♂️
This week Spain moved to illuminate citizens’ crypto holdings kept overseas, requiring disclosure of crypto assets stored abroad for the first time ever.
Although submission isn’t due until next spring, filings must specify crypto funds held as of New Year’s Eve 2023.
Tax experts consider this latest reporting rule part of a broader campaign to eliminate domestic tax evasion locally.
Considering the warnings Spain’s government sent this year to report local crypto holdings, this new rule may trigger a mass migration of crypto holders to other countries.
What other countries are expected to follow Spain’s move? Read the full story!
Private Coins Will Fade Away ❌
In a panel discussion this week, a top Singaporean central banker slammed cryptocurrencies lacking inherent value and destined to fail in the long term.
While supporting future monetary roles for CBDCs and tightly controlled stablecoins, Managing Director Ravi Menon denied durability for “private digital coins” like Bitcoin.
In his view, excessive volatility prevents the everyday usage of decentralized cryptos. Without attaining premier “money” status, these alternative assets stay confined to speculative niches in the economy, according to him.
Of course, Bitcoin was specifically engineered for sounder scarcity and censorship resistance, unlike centralized bank money. But establishment players filter all innovation through existing lenses until disrupted otherwise.
Read the full story!
That concludes our crypto news roundup for today. Check back in tomorrow as the plots thicken!
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