Markets

OKX and Seven Other Exchanges Just Said Goodbye to Hong Kong – Here’s What That Means for Their Crypto Landscape – DL News

Published

8 months ago

29 May, 2024

FinCrypt Staff

OKX and Seven Other Exchanges Just Said Goodbye to Hong Kong – Here's What That Means for Their Crypto Landscape – DL News

The abrupt exit from Hong Kong exchanges highlights the challenges of obtaining a license.
The development raises new questions about the city’s plan to be a crypto hub.
But the exodus could be good news.

A few days after my arrival in Hong Kong last June, I attended my first crypto event. It didn’t disappoint.

The party organized by OKX and the Hong Kong fan club of Manchester City, the leading English football team and corporate partner of the cryptocurrency exchange, was buzzing.

The room was packed with people in sky-blue Erling Haaland shirts, bouncing between free food and drinks and half-listening to presentations from OKX executives.

OKX was clearly looking forward to a bright future in the rejuvenated Hong Kong market as it prepared to apply for its virtual asset trading platform license.

Not long after the party, OKX Managing Director Lennix Lai told me how excited he was to consolidate the company in the city where it had its base of operations.

Then, last week, OKX abruptly withdrew its application for a license from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Careful consideration

It presented its rationale as “careful consideration” of its business strategy, while assuring Hong Kong users that their funds were safe. It will cease commercial services by Friday.

At first glance, OKX’s exit would appear to be a blow to Hong Kong’s aspirations to become Asia’s leading crypto hub.

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With a daily trading volume of US$3 billion, the centralized exchange is the fourth ranked platform worldwide, according to CoinMarketCap.

Additionally, OKX is just one of seven companies that have withdrawn licensing applications since the deadline in late February.

Like OKX, all of these companies – and any others serving Hong Kong customers who have not applied for a license – will have to cease their services to the city’s residents by May 31.

In addition to OKX, subsidiaries of other international exchanges have withdrawn from Hong Kong in recent weeks, including Portão.io and HTX, formerly known as Huobi.

HKVAEX, which the SCMP reported in October last year it was supported by Binance, it also withdrew its application.

Investing heavily

However, the exit of these companies could signal progress in regulators’ efforts to clean up Hong Kong’s crypto-free landscape.

Last year, Lai told me that getting the license was not an easy process.

Finding qualified people to perform the necessary audits can be a challenge.

OKX also had to invest heavily in talent hiring, innovation, technology, compliance and systems security to prepare for the application. (A report CoinDesk estimated the cost of applying for a license to be between $12 million and $20 million.)

The problem is that getting a license must be difficult. That is the question. Given the fraud level In Hong Kong’s crypto markets, the SFC wants crypto exchanges to comply with strict rules.

The number of companies withdrawing applications is not necessarily unusual.

When Singapore introduced licensing for cryptocurrency service providers in January 2021, more than 100 out of 170 applicants withdrew or were rejected until the end of the year, according to Nikkei Asia.

In the UK, 71% of requests made to the Financial Conduct Authority were also withdrawn.

Angela Ang, senior policy advisor at TRM Labs, said DL News It seems that the trend in Hong Kong is normal.

“This could be a combination of higher regulatory expectations following events like FTX, as well as the fact that the crypto industry is relatively new in terms of regulation,” she said.

Time is money

However, license applications are not a trivial task and require a significant amount of time and money.

“No one will give up lightly after investing all this time and resources,” Ang added. “Those who dropped out likely did so only after it became clear that they would otherwise have their applications rejected.”

The timing of the withdrawals just before the closing date could also be an effort by the SFC to weed out those who don’t make the cut for the deal that will allow them to continue operating after June 1.

“This sends a very clear signal about the kind of crypto hub Hong Kong wants to be: strict,” said Ang.

Callan Quinn is DL News’ Asia correspondent based in Hong Kong. Get in touch at callan@dlnews.com.

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Markets

Crypto Markets Rebound as Spot Bitcoin ETFs Attract Massive Inflows

Published

6 months ago

17 July, 2024

FinCrypt Staff

Crypto Markets Rebound Ahead of Early Ethereum ETF Approval

This week saw $722 million worth of Bitcoin spot ETF inflows, including the largest daily inflow in a month.

Cryptocurrency markets rallied on Wednesday, driven by inflows into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) is up 3% over the past 24 hours to last change hands at $65,200, according to CoinGecko. Ethereum (ETH) is up 2% and is trading at $3,471. Solana (SUN) and Polkadot (POINT) increased by 4%.

Bitcoin spot ETFs saw $422 million in daily inflows on Tuesday, the highest in the past 30 days, according to Far side data, . The all-time record for a single day was $1.05 billion on March 12.

Among Tuesday’s top contributors, BlackRock’s IBIT led with $260 million in inflows, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC with $61 million. This week has already seen more than $722 million in inflows.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap, Worldcoin (WLD) led with a 28% increase, followed by Helium (HNT) with 20% and Lido DAO (LDO) with 15%.

Worldcoin, a decentralized identity project led by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, announced is extending the lockups for early investors and team members. This means that tokens will be gradually released through 2029, instead of the original 2027 plan. Token unlocks are generally seen as a negative because they increase supply and early investors can sell their tokens for profit.

Meanwhile, XRP, the token of the XRP Ledger network, jumped 8% after the CME and CF benchmarks introduced new indices and reference rates for XRP.

U.S. stocks faced a downturn on Wednesday. The S&P 500 fell 1%, while the Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average both fell 2%.

Source

Markets

Altcoins on the cusp of a major breakout – WLD, AR, and INJ prices could surge by 20% in the coming days

Published

6 months ago

17 July, 2024

FinCrypt Staff

Altcoins on the cusp of a major breakout – WLD, AR, and INJ prices could surge by 20% in the coming days

Crypto markets appear to have been taken over by the bulls as major tokens have surged above their crucial resistance zone. Bitcoin surged above $65,000 while Ethereum was above $3,500, and XRP, which had remained passive for quite some time, surged over 40% in the past few days to hit $0.6. The uptrend has been captured in most altcoins, with Worldcoin (WLD), Arweave (AR), and Injective (INJ) leading the rally. Here’s what to expect for these tokens in the coming days.

Worldcoin (WLD) Price Analysis

O Worldcoin Price has been trading inside a descending wedge since it marked a new ATH near $12 in the final days of Q1 2024. The recent price action helped the price break out of the upper resistance of the wedge, breaking above the crucial resistance zone between $2.21 and $2.39. Market sentiments have changed, but technicals suggest that the bulls may remain passive for a while, which could offer some room for a bearish pullback.

The price broke out of the wedge with a significant increase in volume, but the current volume suggests that the bulls have taken a step back. Meanwhile, the RSI is about to reach the upper boundary, which could attract bearish forces. Additionally, the DMI has undergone a bullish crossover, but the decline in the ADX suggests that the rally may remain consolidated above the gains. Therefore, the WLD price is expected to maintain a horizontal consolidation between $3 and $3.3 and trigger a fresh rally to $4.4 during the next bullish rally.

Arweave (AR) Price Analysis

Arweave formed a strong base around $25, which helped the rally trigger a recovery during the bearish attack. Mt. Gox and German terror forced the price to fall below $20. However, the recent price action has brought the altcoin within the bullish range and raised expectations of maintaining a decent uptrend for a few more days.

AR price has hit one of the major resistances around $30 to $31.5, which could act as a strong base once overcome. The buying volume is slowly increasing, which could keep the bullish hopes for the rally high. Moreover, the supertrend has just flashed a buy signal, indicating a clean reversal of the trend. Therefore, AR price seems primed to maintain a healthy uptrend and rally above $40. However, if the bulls maintain a similar trend, making new highs above $50 may not be a tedious task for the bulls.

Price Analysis of Injective (INJ)

Injective price has been showing sharp strength since the beginning of the year and hence, the recent turnaround is expected to revive a good uptrend going forward. The bears engulfed the rally to a large extent, but the recent price action suggests that the bulls have regained their dominance. Therefore, INJ price is expected to maintain a strong uptrend with a bearish interference on the way down.

INJ price has surged above the lower support zone and has registered consecutive bullish candles. Although the volume is below the required levels, the OBV is maintaining a sharp uptrend. Furthermore, the Ichimoku cloud lead span B is heading towards the lead span A and a healthy crossover indicates the start of a new uptrend. However, INJ price may be out of the bears’ reach once it secures the resistance zone between $30.77 and $32.12, which seems to be on the horizon.

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Markets

Ethereum at $3.5K, Exchange Supply Hits 34-Month High

Published

6 months ago

17 July, 2024

FinCrypt Staff

Ethereum at $3.5K, Exchange Supply Hits 34-Month High

Ethereum (ETH) supply on exchanges has hit a 34-month high as the asset’s price surpassed the $3,500 mark.

ETH has risen 2.3% over the past 24 hours and is trading at $3,490 at the time of writing. The second-largest cryptocurrency — with a market cap of $419 billion — briefly touched an intraday high of $3,517 earlier today.

ETH Price, Whale Activity, RSI, and Exchange Supply – July 17 | Source: Santiment

Ethereum’s daily trading volume also increased by 7.6% to reach $19.8 billion.

According to data provided by Santiment, the supply of Ethereum on exchanges has reached $19.52 million ETH. This level was last seen in September 2021, when the asset was trading around the same price.

On the other hand, data from the market intelligence platform shows that the number of whale transactions has fallen by 12% in the last day — falling from 8,730 to 7,629 unique transactions per day.

The move shows that the supply of Ethereum on exchanges has been increasing with small deposits rather than large transactions from whales.

Additionally, the ETH Relative Strength Index (RSI) is currently hovering at the 60-mark, per Santiment. The indicator shows that Ethereum is slightly overbought at this price point, but it may not be in a critical position due to its large market cap.

One of the main drivers of Ethereum price increase is ETH spot expectations ETFs in the US Investment products are scheduled to start trading on July 23rd.

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Markets

Bits + Beeps: How to Play the ‘Trump Trade’ in Cryptocurrencies After the Assassination Attempt

Published

6 months ago

17 July, 2024

FinCrypt Staff

Bits + Bips: How to Play the ‘Trump Trade’ in Crypto After the Assassination Attempt

Also, how much will the Fed cut rates (and when)? What will be the inflows into ETH ETFs? And what is the near future for Bitcoin?

Posted on July 17, 2024 at 12:00 PM EST.

Listen to the episode at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Capsules, Source, Podcast Addict, Pocket molds, Amazon Musicor on your favorite podcast platform.

In this episode of Bits + Bips, hosts James Seyffart, Alex Kruger and Joe McCann, joined by guest Jack Platts, dive into the market reaction to the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, analyzing how this event will influence the 2024 US presidential election and the cryptocurrency markets.

They also cover potential rate cuts: Could there be a cut in July? How big could the September rate cut be? Could the decision be influenced by the upcoming election?

They also give their predictions on what percentage of BTC ETF inflows the ETH ETFs will reach, and James talks about what he expects for Grayscale’s ETHE (hint: his outlook would be positive for ETH).

Finally, they delve into what’s next for Bitcoin as the German government runs out of BTC and Mt. Gox distributions begin. Just now?

Program Highlights:

Whether Trump’s shooting decided the election and whether the event caused a “flight to safety”
How election markets are becoming a place to watch election probabilities and whether cryptocurrencies “lean right”
Whether rate cuts will occur in July or September and by how much they will cut: 25 bps or 50 bps
How Joe sees the relationship between global liquidity cycles, rate cuts, and the potential rise of Bitcoin
What are the new updates about Ethereum ETFs and their expected launch?
Why Solana Hasn’t Performed Significantly Better Since Trump News
What Market Breadth Indicates About the Current Market Rally and the Impact of Rates on Small Caps
Everyone’s predictions on ETH ETF inflows and how much outflow we’ll see on Grayscale’s ETHE
What’s Next for BTC After German Government Exits Bitcoin and Mt. Gox Giveaways Starting This Week