Monat: März 2022

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Leading Japanese wealth managers sets up crypto unit

Nomura Holdings, one of the biggest wealth managers in Japan, is setting up a new digital asset unit, which will include cryptocurrencies and NFTs, CoinJournal learned from a press release originally posted on their website.

Capitalizing on increasing adoption of digital assets

Nomura is reorganizing its Future Innovation Company into a newly founded Digital Company in the immediate future. Its main goal is to increase adoption of digital assets and offer relevant services to clients.

NFTs, cryptocurrencies, security tokens, and other digital assets are gaining presence as a new asset class. New types of services are emerging from the fusion of distributed ledger technology and traditional finance.

Kentaro Okuda, Nomura President and Group CEO said:

This is an important next step in our digital evolution. Digital technology is a critical part of our strategic drive to expand our operations in private markets. The new Digital Company will lead deeper collaboration among internal and external stakeholders, accelerate our uptake of digital technologies, and enhance our client services.

Nomura is hopping on crypto bandwagon

The company has about 74 trillion yen of assets under management, equivalent to $641 billion. They intend to promote digital adoption by their subsidiaries. Their announcement follows Rakuten’s recent launch of an NFT marketplace.

Data of Bloomberg indicate Japan’s crypto industry is worth about $1 trillion. The biggest bank in the country, MUFG, launched a stablecoin platform early last month.

Draconian regulations, but there’s hope for Japan

The land of the rising sun grapples with some of the world’s strictest crypto regulations. Crypto exchanges face great challenges in obtaining a license although the government recognizes digital assets.

Corporations have been adopting crypto consistently since last year. Tesla accepts Dogecoin at its supercharger stations and sells some merchandise for DOGE. eBay has released a statement saying it might begin to accept crypto payments as soon as next week. It permits NFT trading.

Ukraine adopted crypto

After the Russian invasion, Ukraine adopted crypto to receive donations, becoming the first country in history to do so. As the national bank closed electronic cash transfers, Ukrainians piled into stablecoin Tether.

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Highlights March 2: Cryptos in the green, tech firms stage Russia boycott

The crypto market as a whole was higher this morning, with the majority of top 10 cryptos registering gains over the past 24 hours.

Apple (-1.16% yesterday) has joined a chorus of tech firms boycotting Russia. Apple’s customers in Russia can no longer buy any of the iPhone maker’s tech devices or make purchases from its app store.

All three major US indices tumbled yesterday as the fighting between Russia and Ukraine intensified.

Markets may be impacted by the ADP Non-Farm Employment Change report, set to be released at 13:15 GMT. Furthermore, investors will be following Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, who is set to present his bi-annual monetary policy update to Congress today.

Top cryptos

Bitcoin climbed around 1%, trading above $44,000 at time of writing. Ethereum was up around 2%, and Cardano and XRP both registered small gains. Cardano ranks ninth at the moment. Its lackluster performance may relegate it to a spot outside the top 10 soon.

Terra continues to lead in the top 10 in terms of weekly gains, recording 63% today. It has climbed to #7 by market cap. A price surge in Terra’s LUNA token over the past week has made it the second-largest staked asset among all major cryptocurrencies, passing Ethereum.

Top movers

The NEAR price has rebounded sharply in the past few days as demand for altcoins has jumped. The token is trading at $11.43, which is about 56% above the lowest level in February this year. NEAR ranks 22nd and added around 9% to its value today.

Other gainers include Fantom with 12% and THORChain with 17%. Convex Finance is rebounding in a massive way. It’s up 45% today.

Anchor Protocol is also reversing recent losses. It has gained 13% in the last 24 h.

Render is a distributed GPU rendering network built on top of the Ethereum blockchain, aiming to connect artists and studios in need of GPU compute power with mining partners willing to rent their GPU capabilities out. It has added 16% to its value today.   

Trending

Dog-themed meme coin Floki Inu is up 19.40% in the last 24 hours on news of a listing on crypto exchange HUOBI. 

FET has been surging ever since it was listed on Huobi a few days ago. The ecosystem is also accepting crypto donations for Ukraine. It added a quarter to its value.  

Frontier recently closed a $100,000 sweepstakes contest and concluded a series of lucrative partnerships with some high-profile platforms. The price of its token FRONT has increased by almost 40% today.

 

 

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Bitcoin is showing signs of decoupling from stocks in the short term, analyst says

Bitcoin is up 6% in the past 24 hours and over 18% this past week as it continues to rally higher amid a sell-off in the stock market.

Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at UK-based digital asset broker GlobalBlock, says Bitcoin’s big move has seen the benchmark crypto “decouple” from the stock market.

In a note on Tuesday, Sotiriou said that BTC’s “incredible” gains this week are a signal that the market could be looking at a potential decoupling from stocks. This, he notes is likely to be the outlook in the short term.

Indeed, looking at the stock market, we see the S&P 500 is headed for another negative daily close with losses above 1.5% on Tuesday.

Why is Bitcoin up today?

Commenting on the recent correlation between Bitcoin and stocks, the GlobalBlock strategist said that this had been the case “for months.” However, the cryptocurrency is signaling what could be an uncorrelated breakout, albeit possibly a short-term one.

And on why Bitcoin is rallying as the S&P 500 falls, Sotiriou explained:

“Bitcoin is being heavily bid due in part to the narrative of being a permissionless and censorship-resistant way of transferring value, as it has been used during the crisis in Ukraine as well as political unrest in Canada.”

But it’s not just stocks that BTC is outshining this week. The flagship crypto is outperforming gold, which last week rallied as Bitcoin fell alongside stocks. Today, despite rallying to highs of $1,945 with over 2% in gains, gold trails BTC’s 6% upside.  

“It is [also] fascinating that, after a week into geopolitical uncertainty, Bitcoin is outperforming gold, which is known as a safe-haven asset,” Sotiriou noted.

Can Bitcoin go higher?

Real Vision CEO Raoul Pal thinks it can, pointing to the current crypto market outlook that “feels a lot like March 2020.”

“Back then we threw the worse possible news at it (a pandemic and a global shut down) and it fell very sharply but failed to make a new low,” he tweeted as Bitcoin broke above $44,000.

Pal sees a similar macro picture in the current circumstances with the Ukraine war, higher rates, and surging oil that has hit $105 per barrel. While the 2022 environment is a different time, he thinks Bitcoin’s failure to make a new low suggests “macro might get more positive for crypto.”

But he also urges caution, noting that the end of the tech sell-off could ignite a fresh collapse in crypto.

 

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