On February 17, the cryptocurrency market is experiencing a turbulent consolidation. $Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$ $96,000 was regained and as of the time of writing, it is reported at $96,385.24; Ethereum is approaching $2,700, reported at $2,684.51.
Key focus
Goldman Sachs and Barclays increased their Bitcoin ETF positions in Q4 of last year.
In the fourth quarter of last year, Goldman Sachs increased its holdings of its spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) by 2000%, while raising its Bitcoin ETF holdings to over $1.5 billion. It purchased nearly $1.28 billion worth of iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), an increase of 88.56% from the third quarter, and also bought $0.288 billion worth of Fidelity Smart Beta Bitcoin Fund (FBTC). In addition, Goldman Sachs holds $3.6 million worth of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).
Barclays established new positions in the iShares Bitcoin ETF in the fourth quarter, while Bitcoin prices were generally in an upward channel during that quarter. Benefitting from Trump's election, his pro-crypto policy stance once pushed Bitcoin above the $100,000 threshold.
Nansen Analyst: The ETH options market shows a bullish tendency, indicating that investors hold a cautiously optimistic outlook for medium-term appreciation.
According to Cointelegraph, data from CoinGlass shows that as of 10:35 AM UTC on February 16, over 70% of the open contracts for ETH Options are call contracts. Nansen research analyst Nicolai Sondergaard stated that the bullish positions indicate that investors are cautiously optimistic about ETH's mid-term appreciation. However, despite the fact that ETH has not shown significant recovery in the current cycle, the price is still approximately 44% lower than the historical high of over $4,890 reached three years ago (November 2021).
CZ: Bitcoin is more like a reserve asset rather than a JIAOYIHUOBI, and many new funds are buying ETFs but this has not been reflected on-chain.
Crypto analyst Immortal tweeted: "The BTC on-chain trading volume is far from the levels seen in 2021... but are we expecting a major bull market? Even trading fees may not signal a bull market—just look at past cycles to know that." In response, CZ stated: "My intuition is that due to high fees and long block times, BTC is now more like a reserve asset than a JIAOYIHUOBI. A lot of new funds are buying ETFs, and these ETFs do not reflect on-chain trading. However, my viewpoint could also be wrong."
Argentinian President Javier Milei has been accused of fraud due to the LIBRA token scandal.
According to The Block, an Argentine lawyer has filed a lawsuit against the country's president, Javier Milei, accusing him of fraud for his involvement in the LIBRA token project. This scandal has escalated since it broke over the weekend, when the value of the token plummeted 95% after Milei initially promoted it. The plaintiff, Jonatan Baldiviezo, stated, "This illegal group has committed fraud, and the president's actions played a key role in it." Another plaintiff, Claudio Lozano, is an economist who formerly served as the president of the Central Bank of Argentina; a lawyer and an engineer have also joined the lawsuit. The judge for the case may be appointed as early as tomorrow.
The opposition party in Argentina plans to impeach the president, accusing him of promoting a cryptos rug pull.
According to Reuters, Argentine President Javier Milei may face impeachment in Congress, accused of facilitating a crypto rug pull that caused the token's market cap to plunge from $4 billion to $0.418 billion within hours. The Argentine fintech association acknowledged that the case may be a "scam," where the developers of the crypto tokens attracted legitimate investments, inflated their value, and then sold off. Opposition coalition member and legislator Leandro Santoro stated: "This scandal has brought us shame internationally, and an impeachment request must be initiated against the president."
Report: The Bitcoin mining industry has created over 0.031 million jobs in the USA.
According to Cointelegraph, a study conducted by the Perryman Group and published by the Texas Blockchain Council and the Digital Chamber reveals that despite being an emerging field, the Bitcoin mining industry has already created over 31,000 jobs in the USA, both directly through mining operations and indirectly through supporting industries. Twelve states in the USA account for most of the national Bitcoin mining activity, with Texas being particularly prominent, directly generating over 12,200 jobs through Bitcoin mining and related supporting industries. Furthermore, mining activities contribute over 4.1 billion dollars annually to the USA's gross domestic product and effectively support the stability of local energy infrastructure by acting as a load-balancing resource for the power grid.
CoinGecko co-founders: The new token issuance in the crypto market reached 0.6 million in January.
According to Crypto.news, CoinGecko co-founder Bobby Ong stated that there was a surge in the creation of new tokens in the crypto market in January, with 0.6 million new tokens minted, a twelve-fold increase compared to the 0.05 million tokens minted monthly from 2022 to 2023. The acceleration in token creation began in the fourth quarter of 2024; the monthly minting reached 0.4 million and then jumped to a record level of 0.6 million in January. The number of blockchain networks and DEXs is also rapidly increasing. Data shows that approximately 5 to 10 new chains go live each month, peaking at 17 new chains in May 2024. Additionally, 89 new DEXs were tracked just in March 2024. Market analysts warn that this surge may lead to liquidity dilution. In response to concerns about the market impact, Ong acknowledged the potential downsides: "There are too many tokens, and each token dilutes traders' limited attention and liquidity. That’s why we haven’t seen the significant ups that were seen in previous cycles."
Greeks.live: Bitcoin traders are closely monitoring the range of 0.094-0.098 million dollars, with the main resistance level at 0.098 million dollars.
Greeks.live macro researcher Adam released a community briefing in English stating that Bitcoin traders are closely monitoring the 0.094-0.098 million dollars Range, with major resistance at 0.098 million dollars, while many have noticed that recent volatility has been unusually low and price trends lack certainty. The market is gradually reaching a consensus that the volatility of short-term options may experience significant expansion from the current level of 17%, with a clear divide between the viewpoints advocating for taking aggressive positions in a low-volatility environment and those advocating for waiting for a clearer direction.
The first tokenized retail MMF in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to launch by the end of the month, with the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission reiterating there will be no VATP licensing cap or target.
According to the Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, a fund issuer previously expected to launch the Asia-Pacific's first tokenized retail money market fund in Hong Kong by the end of this month. Julia Leung Fung-yee, the CEO of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, stated that discussions have been held with the Monetary Authority regarding the Ensemble project, believing that among real-world assets, money market funds have the most potential for tokenization, as they can facilitate efficient subscriptions and redemptions. Currently, several other tokenization applications are under review, including retail products and money market funds. Julia Leung also revealed that the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has established an industry consultation group for licensed virtual asset trading platform (VATP) operators, hoping to release a development roadmap in the near future, and is currently processing nine valid applications, reaffirming that there is no cap or target for license issuance. In addition to the virtual asset trading platform, the Securities and Futures Commission will also assist the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau in establishing regulatory frameworks for virtual asset custody and OTC trading, with public consultations expected later this year.
Hong Kong media: The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission will again approve virtual asset trading platform licenses this month, and plans to explore custody and OTC business support.
According to Hong Kong media East Net, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission may issue more licenses for virtual asset trading platforms this month. Since June 2023, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has implemented a virtual asset trading platform (VATP) licensing system. CEO Julia Leung Fung-yee stated that nine licenses have been issued so far, with another nine pending approval, and more platforms are expected to receive licenses within the month. Regarding the proposed roadmap for the development of virtual assets, Julia Leung pointed out that the development of virtual assets involves more than just licensed platforms, but also custodial business, OTC, etc. Opinions from different entities will be collected at that time. Julia Leung also mentioned that the trading liquidity of current virtual asset trading platforms has room for improvement and will consider whether to introduce more products and services to enhance market competitiveness.
Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Fund, stated that he still holds some Bitcoin and that Gold is harder to regulate than BTC and cannot be easily taxed.
In a recent interview on the 'All-In' podcast, Bridgewater Fund founder Ray Dalio talked about Bitcoin again, also mentioning the DeepSeek frenzy. He indicated that through market trends, he has seen currency devaluation, especially compared to Gold, Bitcoin, or other physical assets. More generally, all fiat currencies are depreciating, while Gold, Bitcoin, or other hard assets are appreciating relative to them. Bitcoin or other digital assets are worth discussing. Although commodities can hedge against inflation, they do not serve as a store of value; people cannot hold oil or Chicago SRW Wheat long-term as a wealth storage tool like they do with Gold or Bitcoin. Ray Dalio disclosed that he still holds some Bitcoin, but far less than Gold. Bitcoin is one of his diversified investments, but he prefers Gold due to several unique advantages: it can flow freely between countries; central banks hold it as a reserve asset; it's harder to regulate than Bitcoin, allowing for more 'privacy' in holding; and it's difficult to tax Gold easily, unlike Bitcoin - regulatory agencies know the trading paths of Bitcoin, making it easy to regulate and tax.
Jupiter: Did not participate in the issuance of LIBRA in any form and has not found any team members engaging in strategic hoarding.
Regarding the LIBRA token, the decentralized Exchange Jupiter in the Solana ecosystem stated on platform X: “A few members of the team learned directly from Kelsier Ventures about two weeks ago that, at some point, there would be a token project related to Argentine President Javier Milei. Although we were initially skeptical about this, we later saw credible evidence on Milei's personal Twitter account, proving that he is quite serious about this matter. This is all we know. We have no understanding of the transactions between Milei and market makers, and we have never participated in any form.” Jupiter also stated that in the meme coin space, the news of an 'Argentine coin' about to be issued has long been an open secret, but adhering to its confidentiality policy, Jupiter has never disclosed this matter to anyone, whether online or offline. Furthermore, no one on the team has received any LIBRA tokens or related rewards.
Greeks.live: Bitcoin continues to fluctuate below 0.1 million USD, with a relatively weak wealth creation effect in the market.
Greeks.live macro researcher Adam posted on X platform that notable macro aspects this week include the USA and Europe's news about the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Russia-Ukraine war has been an important cause of the rise in commodity prices, and if the related situation changes, it may alter the current overall inflation logic. In terms of crypto, this week the Consensus event in Hong Kong is opening, with many related meetings, while FTX will also begin repaying creditors, all of which are worth watching. The EU's crypto asset market bill (MiCA) has come into full effect, and compliant exchanges like Kraken are gradually delisting USDT and other stablecoins in Europe. The crypto market remains sluggish, with Bitcoin continuously oscillating below 0.1 million dollars. The debacle of Milei's coin issuance has worsened the slump in altcoins, and the market wealth effect is rather weak, with a very pessimistic sentiment prevalent. Regarding options, total implied volatility continues to decline, with the current month's at-the-money implied volatility having dropped to 45%, primarily dominated by large holders adjusting their positions.
Texas, USA will hold the first public hearing on February 18 to discuss the establishment of a Bitcoin reserve.
According to Cointelegraph, the Texas government website announced that the first public hearing regarding the potential establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve in Texas is scheduled for February 18, less than a week after the Senate secretary received the bill. Although this move is a positive step for Bitcoin adoption, it may be merely a 'symbolic action' in the cryptocurrency market, according to Nexo's scheduling Analyst Iliya Kalchev. Kalchev stated, 'Texas considering Bitcoin as a reserve asset is another move towards institutional legitimacy for Bitcoin, but compared to the Inflow of ETFs or allocations in corporate treasuries, state-level initiatives often only stir ripples rather than create waves. Unless the hearing announces recent purchasing plans or significant policy shifts, market reactions may be relatively subdued, as Texas's support for Cryptos is already well known.'
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