Market Wrap: Finger-Pointing and Job Cuts as Bitcoin Slides Back Toward $20K

Hi, I’m Bradley Keoun, here to take you through the day’s crypto market highlights and news.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell for a third straight day, drifting back down toward $20,000 and trading in sync with U.S. stocks.

There was no shortage of drama in the news as the crypto industry continued to address the fallout from the recent carnage in digital-asset markets. The price of BTC is now trading at less than a third of its all-time high around $69,000 late last year.

The CEO of the futures crypto exchange CoinFLEX accused the Bitcoin Cash supporter and noted investor Roger Ver of owing it $47 million in the stablecoin USDC. Ver had tweeted earlier Tuesday that “some rumors have been spreading” that he had defaulted on a debt to a counterparty; instead, he said, the counterparty “owes me a substantial sum of money.”

And after a report emerged that the crypto exchange Huobi Global might cut over 30% of its workforce, an official at the rival exchange OKX announced plans for the company to increase its headcount by 30%.

“Over the past two weeks, we have seen the bear markets bringing out the worst,” Walter Teng, digital asset strategy associate at the independent investment research firm FundStrat, wrote in a newsletter.

LINK rally fizzles

Arcane Research, the Norwegian analysis firm, totted up a list of dismal indicators and predictions in a weekly report:

• Prices for bitcoin mining machines “have fallen off a cliff” and are likely to keep falling, which means the miners may eventually have to “dump their orders” in the face of falling cash flows.
• Bitcoin spot-trading volumes have fallen by 59% over the past nine days.
• The growing industry woes are “leading to a vicious withdrawal cycle on other centralized lending platforms.”

In digital-asset markets beyond bitcoin, the blockchain oracle project Chainlink’s LINK rallied as much as 8% earlier after the Robinhood (HOOD) trading platform agreed to list the token. However, later in the day the rally fizzled and LINK was down 2.1%.

In traditional markets, a sell-off in tech led U.S. stocks lower as a key index of consumer confidence dropped to a 16-month low on growing worries over high inflation.

U.S. crude futures rose 2% in New York trading to $111.84 a barrel, and Group of Seven leaders discussed plans for capping oil prices. Gold slid 0.2% to $1,821 an ounce.

Latest prices

New York Community Bank to Hold Assets Backing Circle’s USDC

By Krisztian Sandor

New York Community Bank, a New York State-based community bank that also has branches in New Jersey, Florida and Ohio, will serve as a custodian for some of the reserve assets behind the USD coin (USDC) stablecoin, Circle, USDC’s issuer, said Tuesday.

USDC has distinguished itself from stablecoin competitors by forging closer ties with traditional banks and reportedly being more conservative in the selection of reserves, holding only U.S. dollar-denominated cash and short-term U.S. government bonds. It’s the second-largest stablecoin after Tether’s USDT, with a circulating supply of $55 billion. USDC has taken market share from USDT since the implosion of the Terra blockchain.

Earlier this spring, Circle announced that BNY Mellon (BK), one of the oldest and largest custodian banks in the U.S., would be the primary custodian for USDC reserves.

NYCB is a relatively small bank, managing $61 billion in assets, according to its website. By comparison, BNY Mellon’s assets under custody amounts to $45 trillion.

Read the full story here.

Altcoin roundup

• Axie Infinity restarts Ronin Bridge: Three months after an exploit saw some $625 million worth of cryptocurrencies stolen from the protocol, Axie Infinity’s Ronin bridge has been restarted. Developers say the bridge has undergone an internal audit and two external audits. Read more here.
• Shiba inu (SHIB) and dogecoin (DOGE) lead seven-day returns: The two altcoins, SHIB and DOGE, rallied as bitcoin (BTC) and other major cryptocurrencies broke above resistance levels and stabilized over the weekend. Analysts say speculative investor behavior likely led to meme coins outperforming major cryptocurrencies. Read more here.
• LINK rallies: Chainlink’s LINK currency rallied by about 8% Tuesday following its listing on online brokerage platform Robinhood (HOOD). It was the first time Robinhood has listed a new token since mid-April. Read more here.

Relevant insight

• Listen ????: Today’s CoinDesk Markets Daily podcast discusses the latest market movements and explores a perspective on the Fed’s inflation explanation.
• FSInsight Accuses Three Arrows Capital of Running a ‘Madoff-Style Ponzi Scheme’: 3AC borrowed recklessly from just about every institutional lender in the business, a report from the research firm says.
• Luxor Launches Hosting Marketplace for Bitcoin Miners Amid Build-Out Delays: The marketplace will offer hosting clients in the U.S. and Canada, with miners able to have as little as one mining rig hosted by some providers.
• New York Community Bank to Hold Assets Backing Circle’s USDC: This marks the first time a community bank will serve as a custodian for a stablecoin.
• Bank of America Says ‘Crypto Winter’ Concerns Haven’t Frozen Investor Interest: Blockchain technology is the most significant evolution of software since the internet, the report said.
• Zigazoo, a Social Network for Kids, Raises $17M to Further Web3 Ambitions: The app recently sold out four non-fungible token drops tied to top children’s brands and talent.
• A16z Leads $6M Seed Funding Round in Blockchain Linera: The layer 1 chain aims to be low-latency with linear scalability to facilitate the transition from Web2 to Web3.
• Accelerate Financial Launches NFT Fund, Sees Prices Bottoming: The fund will own a mix of NFT collections, including CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club.
• Alan Howard-Backed Cryptography Investor Geometry Emerges From Stealth: Tom Walton-Pocock, the former CEO of zero-knowledge proofs shop Aztec, is heading Geometry.
• Argentina’s Customs Office Seizes $21M in Crypto Mining Equipment: Report: The case involves 2,233 Whatsminer machines that were improperly imported, according to the government.
• ‘Crypto Dad’ Chris Giancarlo Knighted by French Government: The former chief of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and avowed crypto advocate was recognized by French President Emmanuel Macron, in part, for embracing “crypto finance.”

Other markets

Most digital assets in the CoinDesk 20 ended the day higher.

Sector classifications are provided via the Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS), developed by CoinDesk Indices to provide a reliable, comprehensive and standardized classification system for digital assets. The CoinDesk 20 is a ranking of the largest digital assets by volume on trusted exchanges.