Author: Steven Sahiounie

European markets fell on Tuesday, as traders followed U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony. The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 0.7% at 4:00 p.m. London time after trading flat for most of the session, as all sectors slid into the red. Mining stocks led losses, down 2.2%, while retail fell 1.18%. Powell warned interest rates are likely to be higher than central bank policymakers previously expected. “If the totality of the data were to indicate that faster tightening is warranted, we would be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes,” he added. The British pound fell 1.2% against the U.S. dollar to $1.187…

Trading cryptocurrencies is quite challenging right now, as the market is caught between opposing forces of issues at crypto-friendly bank Silvergate, operational bottlenecks at major exchanges and optimism about Ethereum’s impending Shanghai upgrade. Per crypto services provider Matrixport, the best way to navigate the melee is by setting relative value trades – a strategy of trading one or more securities in relation to another. “It’s time for relative value trades. Traders can now buy call options on ether and finance them by selling calls on bitcoin with the profit potential quite strong,” Markus Thielen, head of research and strategy at Matrixport, said in a note to…

Good morning. Here’s what’s happening: Prices: Crypto is flat as traders await U.S. central bank Chair Jerome Powell’s next comments. Insights: Exposure to China and the subsidies it is receiving may be hurting Filecoin’s growth. Crypto Flat as Powell Heads to Congress Good morning Asia, here’s how the markets are moving today. Bitcoin and ether are opening the Asia business day flat. The world’s largest digital asset is down 0.2% to $22,412 while ether is stuck at $1,565. Trading volume is significantly down, according to CoinGecko data, with 24-hour volume for bitcoin at $16 billion on Monday, March 6 compared to $27 billion…

This week, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) will hold a hearing on digital assets and the environment. This hearing will almost exclusively focus on the energy use from Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mining process. At its simplest, Bitcoin data centers (also known as miners) use computers to secure the Bitcoin network and process transactions. For this work they are rewarded in bitcoin (BTC). Critics have highlighted the large amount of energy use of bitcoin miners and argued that governments should either clamp down on bitcoin mining or force miners to switch away from the proof-of-work protocol and…

Bored Ape Yacht Club parent company Yuga Labs closed its TwelveFold auction Monday, launching the company’s first Bitcoin-based non-fungible token (NFT) collection. The 300-edition generative art project, which opened its auction on Sunday, awarded NFTs to the top 288 successful bidders at the conclusion of the auction at 6 p.m. ET. According to TwelveFold’s website, Yuga Labs reserved 12 inscriptions for “contributors, future donations, and philanthropic efforts.” According to Yuga Labs, there were 3,246 total bidders and the auction generated 735.7 BTC (about $16.5 million). The 288 NFTs minted will be inscribed onto satoshis on the Bitcoin blockchain. One token sold for as…

Bitcoin edged higher to top $22,500 early Monday before retreating slightly below that mark in the afternoon. The largest cryptocurrency by market value was recently trading above $22,400 and squarely in the narrow range it’s occupied since Thursday when traders liquidated some $78 million in long positions amid worries about Silvergate Capital. Bitcoin (BTC) had been trading at around $23,500 for much of the previous week winding into February. “It seems the more Wall Street positions itself for a major sell-off with risky assets, markets refuse to break,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at foreign exchange market maker Oanda, wrote in an…

The army of professionals working on the FTX bankruptcy case has billed a collective $38 million plus expenses for the month of January, according to court records. Bankruptcy administrators have retained law firm Sullivan & Cromwell as counsel. They have also retained Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan as well as Landis Rath & Cobb to act as special counsel for the proceedings. Consultancy AlixPartners was retained to primarily conduct forensic analysis on DeFi products and tokens in FTX’s possession. Meanwhile, the financial services firms Alvarez & Marsal as well as Perella Weinberg Partners were retained to sort through FTX’s accounting records…

Hear Alex Thorn share his take on “Bitcoin and Inflation: It’s Complicated” at Consensus 2023. Good morning. Here’s what’s happening: Prices: Crypto is flat as traders await U.S. central bank Chair Jerome Powell’s next comments. Insights: Exposure to China and the subsidies it is receiving may be hurting Filecoin’s growth. Crypto Flat as Powell Heads to Congress Good morning Asia, here’s how the markets are moving today. Bitcoin and ether are opening the Asia business day flat. The world’s largest digital asset is down 0.2% to $22,412 while ether is stuck at $1,565. Trading volume is significantly down, according to CoinGecko data, with…

The United Arab Emirates has been taking more cargoes of Russian crude oil, according to ship tracking data and trading sources, in another example of how Western sanctions on Russia have adjusted traditional energy trade flows. Russia has been selling both crude and refined products at discounted prices after international sanctions over its war in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”, left it with fewer buyers. The development also highlights growing cooperation between Russia and top (Persian) Gulf oil producers, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE. (Persian) Gulf Arab states have resisted US pressure to help isolate…

Paris/London CNN — French schools, airports and trains will face heavy disruption Tuesday for the sixth time this year, as unions galvanize people nationwide in protest against government plans to raise the retirement age for most workers. Paris is expected to bear the brunt of the protests, with most lines on the metro running only at the busiest times, according to the city’s transport agency RATP. The main education trade union FSU said Sunday that 120 schools would close for the day and 60% of primary school teachers would be on strike in the French capital. France’s civil aviation authority, meanwhile, has asked airlines to reduce scheduled…