Bitcoin Dips Below $30,000 While US Stocks Rally: Markets Wrap

Bitcoin fell below $30,000 on Tuesday, trading lower than the cryptocurrency has in a month. The digital asset had maintained a semi-steady $31,000 to $35,000 trading range weeks leading up to the hit.

After news broke that BlockFi received a cease-and-desist order from New Jersey’s Attorney General, bitcoin declined around 3%. The order indicated that the crypto-lending firm would no longer be allowed to accept interest rate accounts in the garden state. 

This was one of many regulatory clampdowns for the cryptocurrency this summer. Last month, the Financial Conduct Authority said they would ban all in-country exchanges on Binance Markets Limited and China’s central bank forced the country’s key financial institutions to block all crypto transactions.

Other crypto currencies also dropped. Ether tumbled to a three-week low of $1,709.93.

In less bearish news, FTX closed a $900 million funding round. This brings the crypto trading platform to a $18 billion valuation, Blockworks reported on Tuesday.

Fintech firm Titan said it also raised $58 million in a funding round led by VC giant Andreessen Horowitz. At the same time, Rothschild Investment Corp. tripled their bitcoin exposure since April, increasing their holdings of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, SEC records revealed.

Despite signals of further mainstream adoption, crypto markets couldn’t get their footing, most falling at press time.

However, USD coin and tether were up 1%, respectively.

Crypto

• Bitcoin is trading around $29,845.96, shedding -3.05% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.
• Ether is trading around $1,794.80, down -1.41% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.
• ETH:BTC is at 0.060, advancing 1.99% at 4:00 pm ET.
• VIX fell -12.36% to 19.72 at 4:00 pm ET.

Insight

According to founding principal of BKCoin Capital, Kevin Kang, miners could have put large numbers of bitcoin on exchanges overnight, ensuing selling pressures on the market.

“Yesterday, we saw investors getting out of risky assets due to the concerns over the Delta variant and rising Covid-19 cases across the world, where equities sold off and US 10-year yields sunk almost 9%,” Kang told Blockworks. “(The) crypto market wasn’t immune from the global risk-off sentiment across macro assets – bitcoin was down 3% yesterday, struggling to get above $31,000.”

Stocks rebounded after kicking off the week with a steep sell-off caused by Covid panic and inflationary concerns. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had its most prominent decline since October then jumped 2% intraday. The S&P 500 made gains in all its major groups.

IBM earnings results led to big gains for the technology giant on Tuesday, whose shares surged 5% intraday, on the New York Stock Exchange.

In the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, Peloton Interactive Inc. (PTON), shot up 7%, after UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) announced plans to provide free classes from the home fitness company to their members. UNH advanced 1% following the news. All major equities made continued gains by market close.

Equities

• The Dow rallied 1.70% to to 34,538
• S&P 500 advanced 1.68% to 4,329
• Nasdaq was up 1.76% to 14,526

The 10-year rose after deflating on Tuesday morning. Investors are still accessing economic growth and looming rate hikes as the Federal Reserve chair insists that inflation is transitory.

Fixed Income

• U.S. 10-year treasury yields 1.214% as of 4:00 pm ET

Commodities

• Brent crude shot up to $69.65 a barrel, advancing 1.46%.
• Gold was little changed with an uptick of 0.01% to $1,809.30.

Currencies

• The US dollar strengthened 0.09%, according to the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index.

In other news…

OpenSea, the first non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, raised $100 million in a Series B funding, bringing them to an implied valuation of $1.5 billion. The round was led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Blockworks reported on Tuesday. 

We’re watching out for…

• US existing home sales will be on Thursday.
• European Central Bank rate decision will be on Thursday.
• The Tokyo Summer Olympics begin on Friday.

That’s it for today’s markets wrap. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.