Schlagwort: crypto business

Veröffentlicht am

Fed adopts new rules barring officials from trading stocks, bonds and crypto

  • Federal Reserve officials and several other groups of employees will not be allowed to trade stocks, bonds and crypto such as Bitcoin starting May 1

  • Senior officials will need to give a 45-day notice and receive authorisation before trading any securities.

  • The restrictions were announced last October but have just been formally adopted.

The US Federal Reserve has officially prohibited Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members, senior staff and other employees from engaging in trading stocks, bonds and cryptocurrencies.

The move follows an earlier announcement released in October 2021, and which the central bank formally adopted on Friday, February 18, 2022.

The restrictions are set to take effect on 1st May and will see senior Federal Reserve officials barred from acquiring individual stocks or sector funds. The ban extends to individual bonds, commodities, agency securities, cryptocurrencies, and foreign currencies, the press release added.

Among other requirements, senior central bank officials will from 1 July, be expected to give 45-day advance notice before they undertake any trades involving securities. The purchase or sale will only proceed after the officials receive prior approval, and investments must be held for at least a year.

No purchases or sales will be allowed for Fed officials in “periods of heightened financial market stress.”

All officials listed in the notice have 12 months from 1st May “to dispose of all impermissible holdings,” while those to come under the restrictions at a later date will only have six months to dispose of such holdings.

Who else is prohibited?

Apart from FOMC members and regional Fed presidents, the restrictions affect research directors, FOMC staff officers, managers, and a cadre of other employees, their spouses and minor children.

Other staff will be added to this list after further review, the notice clarified.

Why the restrictions?

According to the release, the Fed seeks to inculcate “confidence” in the public regarding the impartiality and integrity of its officials.

The ban is also meant to guard “against even the appearance of any conflict of interest,” which has certainly been the view of many after several high-profile cases of alleged insider trading activity touching on Fed officials.

The post Fed adopts new rules barring officials from trading stocks, bonds and crypto appeared first on Coin Journal.

Veröffentlicht am

Fidelity Investments has launched a physical bitcoin ETP in Europe

Fidelity Investments has launched a physical bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) in what it says is the growing demand for digital assets among European investors. The fund is listed on Frankfurt’s Xetra and shall start trading on Zurich’s Six a few weeks from now.

Fidelity’s ETP comes three months after Invesco launched its bitcoin ETP following the increased interest for cryptocurrency investments among asset managers.

The ETP comes after Fidelity Digital Assets was awarded an official registration by the UK Financial Conduct Authority for its digital trading business and assets custody in late 2021.

Previously Fidelity Digital Assets was listed as a temporary member on FCA’s register but has now been moved to the permanent register of FCA.

In December 2021 Fidelity Investments launched a Canadian-based physical bitcoin ETF, which currently has about $30 million in assets.

Fidelity’s Physical Bitcoin ETP

Fidelity’s Physical Bitcoin ETP shall be available to institutional and professional investors in Europe and shall be domiciled in Germany. However, Fidelity Digital Assets, which is the digital assets arm of Fidelity Investments based in the US shall be the custodian of the ETP.

The head of Fidelity Investments Nick King said that the launch of the ETP was an important step in the company’s ETP offering and the first in offering digital assets products.

The ETP was launched with about $6 million worth of assets and shall have an ongoing charge of 0.75%.

Managing director for Europe at Fidelity Christian Staub said:

“Underlying distributed ledger technology has the potential to revolutionize the financial system over time and disrupt many parts of the financial world with profound implications for investors.”

Fidelity Digital Assets recently conducted a survey that showed that 70% of institutional investors looked forward to investing in digital assets soon. Also over 90% of those who participated in the survey said that they want digital assets that shall have an allocation within the next five years.

The post Fidelity Investments has launched a physical bitcoin ETP in Europe appeared first on Coin Journal.

Veröffentlicht am

Bitcoin stares down $38K support level amid macro headwinds

Patience is a rare commoodity in the cryptocurrency space. It was only two weeks ago that Bitcoin rallied 15%+ to make the jump from $37,000 to near $42,000, but traders and retail investors soon became angsty at the rangebound motion of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency in the fortnight since.

“Do something!” was the prevailing sentiment across the Internet, as multiple rejections have occurred at the $43,000 resistance level over the last two weeks. But be careful what you wish for, as the yesterday’s latest pullback puts Bitcoin in position to go the other way, potentially testing the $38,000 support level.

Trading View (via Binance)

Ukrainian tension

Of course, markets are largely in wait-and-see mode as the political climate is delicately poised across the globe. More specifically, Putin is playing the world’s most dangerous game of chicken at the Ukrainian border, with markets accordingly keeping a keen eye on developments in Eastern Europe. Crypto isn’t the only stakeholder, with the S&P 500 closing down over 2% yesterday as the doomsday scenario seemingly became significantly more likely. Bitcoin plummeted from near $44,000 to where it currently sits, just north of $40,000.

Rate Hikes

As if a potential World War III is not ghastly enough, the most feared two words in any investor’s lexicon have been getting a lot of airtime recently: rate hikes. Following January’s blowout inflation numbers, the highest since 1982, the market is now pricing in seven hikes in 2022. In other words, it’s last call at the bar and the lights are on – the party, hosted so graciously over the last couple of years by the Fed, looks like it’s about to end.

Ranging

One of the prime narratives pushing crypto’s surge has been that of the inflation hedge angle; a way to escape debasing fiat currency resulting from the aggressive money printing. With the Fed now indicating this hawkish turn, the inflation push factor is coming undone. Combining this bearish development with the politics in Europe, the notoriously volatile Bitcoin is a nervous place to be. 

Warren Buffet famously said “be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful”. Well, people are certainly fearful at the moment, and with Bitcoin one more red candle away from testing $38,000 resistance, it’s making an interesting close to the week. That $43,000 resistance looks a hell of a long way off right now.

We all know, however, that one comment from Putin, either one way or the other, could render all this moot. Against that backdrop, it’s not surprising to see Bitcoin range between that $38,000 – $43,000 space… for now.

The post Bitcoin stares down $38K support level amid macro headwinds appeared first on Coin Journal.

Veröffentlicht am

Crypto is ‘best place’ to store wealth if Fed rate hike crash markets, says Pantera CEO

Bears continue to dominate sentiment, with more downsides likely amid inflation and geopolitical concerns.

Dan Morehead says if interest rates rise, equities and real estate will become less attractive, leaving blockchain assets as the best store of value.

Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead has said that crypto remains the “best place” for investors looking to store their wealth if US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes take the shine off equities.

In a newsletter published Wednesday, the Pantera chief pointed to the concerns across the markets over the Fed’s potential direction as it begins to hike rates in the wake of runaway inflation.

Last week, data showed US consumer prices rose 7.5% year over year, with Fed’s minutes this week signaling interest rates are incoming. While the market might have priced in the March rate hike, just how aggressive the central bank will be, has most investors in spooked mode.

Higher rates make stocks and real estate ‚less attractive‘

A dip in the stock market will likely see Bitcoin and other crypto assets head lower, as happened this week amid the Russia-Ukraine tension. Lockstep trading is something that has seen analysts and economists predict more pain for crypto if stocks begin to bleed.

But Morehead thinks digital assets will have it less rough if the negative scenario plays out. He believes the “markets will decouple soon,” leaving investors with the choice of what would be the best store of value.

“Rising rates will make equities and real estate less attractive. So, where does one invest when both stocks and bonds are falling?” he asked in the note cited by Cointelegraph.

In his view, blockchain [and digital assets such as Bitcoin] provide “a very legit place to invest.”

Crypto sold-off due to tax preps

Commenting on the selling pressure that has crypto markets nursing huge losses since late last year, the Pantera chief pointed to a possible sell-side effect related to investors looking at taxes.

He noted that some of the downward pressure comes from “unintended tax positions” that investors find themselves in after a bumper 2021.

“There were $1.4 trillion of cryptocurrency capital gains created last year,” he wrote, adding that this alone could be responsible for a significant chunk of the sell-off seen since last year’s peaks for Bitcoin and other crypto assets.

Bitcoin is currently trading near $40,400, about 5% down in the past 24 hours as crypto tracks losses in equity markets. The S&P 500 closed 2.12% lower on Thursday, while the Dow fell more than 600 points.

The post Crypto is ‘best place’ to store wealth if Fed rate hike crash markets, says Pantera CEO appeared first on Coin Journal.

Veröffentlicht am

Market highlights February 18: Cryptos on the decline, Wall Street under pressure

US markets fell yesterday as US President Joe Biden warned the risk of a Russian invasion of Ukraine was still “very high.”

The crypto market was mostly lower over the past 24 hours, with the majority of cryptos in the red this morning.

The SPX500 fell 1.98% while the DJ30 was down 1.66% and the NASDAQ100 dropped 2.83%.

US markets will be closed this Monday due to President’s Day.

Top cryptos

Bitcoin was down more than 6.5% at time of writing, while Ethereum was down around 5.5%. BNB and Solana were each down more than 4%, while XRP and Cardano both declined more than 3%.

Terra lost almost 9%, which makes it the biggest loser in the top 20. Apart from the general market trend affecting it, news that the S.E.C. is suing its CEO over Mirror Protocol pushed the price down.

Top movers

Most cryptos lost 3-5% of their value in a trend that continues since yesterday. Decentraland, Axie Infinity, Stellar Lumens, and Theta Network were each down around 7% at the time of writing. 

The Sandbox, Filecoin, and VeChain each lost 8% and Aave, Kadena, and THORChain shed 9% of their value.

Decred and Rally both lost 10% today. However, Rally is still up 17% for the week and remains the only crypto in the top 100 to complete 7 days in the green.  

At the other end, Neo continues to rally. Yesterday, it emerged China’s BSN had given the project the green light on NFT marketplaces. It’s up 4% today.  

Trending

The meme token BEAGLE INU has gained 309% in the last 24 hours. BEAGLE INU is a hybrid of a biological BEAGLE and Inu, a very advanced dog whose body has been permanently supplemented with haft blood.

The live DIA price today is $1.32 with a 24-hour trading volume of $269.5 million. DIA is up 33.22% in the last 24 hours.

The post Market highlights February 18: Cryptos on the decline, Wall Street under pressure appeared first on Coin Journal.