News updates May 13, 2022
- LUNA & UST Trading Resumed. Binance will resume spot trading for LUNA/BUSD and UST/BUSD trading pairs on 2022-05-13 at 14:00 (UTC). Deposits and withdrawals for LUNA and UST will also open at the same time.
Please ensure that you have done your own research into the fundamentals of LUNA and UST before trading.
2. Bitcoin's Break Above $30,000 Puts It on Important Support Level.
Following an almost 40% retrace of the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin and other digital assets fell below important support levels, which added more risk to the table for crypto traders and investors, but thanks to the potential capitulation, BTC recovered above $30,000 and formed a potential support zone, per TradingView.
Bitcoin daily chart
The daily chart is one of the most commonly used timeframes for mid-term BTC trading, which makes it the ultimate tool for determining local support and resistance zones. As for now, Bitcoin successfully broke through $30,000 and remains on an important support level of $30,000.
Besides various support and resistance levels, traders use technical indicators that give them a hint about the current conditions of the market. One of these indicators is the Relative Strength Index, which shows the oversold or overbought levels.
At press time, RSI shows the first upward movement since the beginning of the month, hinting at the potential short-term reversal after dropping to the lowest level since January. If the RSI moves above the value of 30, Bitcoin would no longer be considered oversold.
3. Satoshi-Era Bitcoin Wallet Awakens with BTC in It Worth 62x in USD.
Whale Alert cryptocurrency tracker has detected a transaction from a wallet that has been inactive since 2013. The address contains 1,000 Bitcoins, whose price has soared more than 62x over the past 8.5 years when the wallet was inactive.
The year 2013 was a time that many people remember talking to the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto live on Internet chats, and BTC traded at roughly $468.60.
From $468.60 worth of Bitcoin back in 2013, this amount of BTC now costs $30,395,186. The owner has activated the wallet and sold the Bitcoin, turning himself into a millionaire and a cryptocurrency whale.
In the comment thread, some have assumed that this might be a crypto wallet that belongs to the FBI. In 2013, The Silk Road darknet website was shut down by U.S. law-enforcement, and its founder, Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to two life-time terms in jail plus 40 years, his Bitcoin wallet was seized by the FBI, making the agency the owner of a large Bitcoin wallet.
4. Canadian Bitcoin ETF adds 6.9K BTC in one day as GBTC discount hits record low
It's a polarizing world in institutional Bitcoin offerings this week as Grayscale's CEO remains convinced demand will return.
Bitcoin (BTC) descending to $24,000 has cost its largest institutional investment vehicle more than the average hodler.
According to data from on-chain monitoring resource Coinglass on May 13, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) is now trading at a nearly 31% discount.
Amid ongoing market volatility this week, GBTC has seen its fledgling recovery fall flat on its face — for the time being.
The so-called GBTC premium, long in negative territory and thus a discount in practice, has now reached its lowest ever.
As of May 13, the discount was 30.6%, meaning that shares in GBTC traded at almost one third below the Bitcoin spot price (referred to as net asset value, or NAV).
The figures mark a distinct turnaround for the premium, which in mid-April had managed to rise to a 21% discount.
Overall, however, GBTC has long traded at a discount amid ongoing attempts by Grayscale to convert it to an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
“It took clarity and conviction to set up GBTC, and now Grayscale is demonstrating courage and commitment in their campaign to convert GBTC into a Spot Bitcoin ETF. They deserve your support,” MicroStrategy CEO, Michael Saylor, argued this week, inviting Twitter followers to demand that U.S. regulators green-light the plans.
Such a move would be unprecedented in the United States, where the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has lagged behind other countries’ authorities in approving a Bitcoin spot-based ETF.
Despite the turbulence, meanwhile, Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein remained as optimistic as ever on GBTC and institutional demand for Bitcoin exposure.
5. Bank of Spain Governor Highlights Need for Fast Regulation in Defi and Crypto.
Pablo Hernández de Cos, governor of the Bank of Spain and chair of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, explained that the cryptocurrency space and decentralized finance (defi) need to be regulated swiftly to avoid risks of financial instability. Hernandez de Cos also mentioned how this swift approach should bring the crypto financial system into the scope of regulation before it grows bigger.
Governor of Bank of Spain Talks Crypto Regulation
The governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández de Cos, who is also part of the banking supervision Basel Committee, explained his take on how he thinks cryptocurrency regulation should be addressed. In a keynote offered at the 36th annual general meeting of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Hernández de Cos explained that there needs to be a swift move to regulate cryptocurrency and decentralized finance markets before they can grow to affect the financial stability of the economic system.
On this issue, he stated:
Despite this phenomenal growth, cryptoassets still represent only about 1% of total global financial assets, and banks’ direct exposures are relatively limited to date. Yet we know that such markets have the potential to scale up rapidly and pose risks to individual banks and overall financial stability.
6. European Commission Has ‘Serious Doubts’ About Markets in Crypto Assets Draft, Report Reveals.
The European Commission disagrees with some provisions in the crypto regulatory proposal approved recently by the European Parliament. The executive arm in Brussels is unhappy with certain anti-money laundering measures, according to a media report quoting unofficial correspondence.
European Commission Working on Compromise Proposal for EU Crypto Rules
Europe’s upcoming Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation is facing challenges in the trilogue stage, less than two months after the European Parliament voted on the draft. Since then, discussions have been underway with the other two parties in the European Union’s legislative process — the Council of the EU and the European Commission (EC).
An unofficial letter seen by the German crypto news portal BTC Echo has indicated that the Commission does not agree with some points in the texts approved by the lawmakers and is preparing amendments. The executive body expresses concerns specifically about certain measures aimed at combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
With these provisions, found in Article 4 of MiCA, the Parliament wants to prevent the EU licensing of crypto asset service providers (CASPs) that are based in non-compliant jurisdictions or “high-risk areas,” or registered in countries that do not levy corporate tax. There is no similar ban in other legal acts, the Commission points out. What’s more, such a prohibition would violate the rules of the World Trade Organization.
7. Emirates to accept BTC payments and launch NFT collectibles
Emirates, the largest airline in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), announced that it has plans to implement Bitcoin (BTC) payments and launch nonfungible tokens (NFTs) to be traded through the company's websites.
8. Japanese Investment Bank Nomura Starts Offering OTC Crypto Derivatives
On Friday (May 13), Japanese investment bank Nomura announced that it had started offering over-the-counter (OTC) Bitcoin derivatives to its client in Asia.
9. SEC Chair Gensler: Crypto Exchanges Are Trading Against Their Customers Often
The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, says cryptocurrency exchanges are “trading against their customers often because they’re market-marking against their customers.” He has raised concerns over crypto trading platforms “commingling” services.
10. Germany outlines favorable tax guidelines, gains on BTC and ETH sold after a year tax-free
The Federal Ministry of Finance (BaFin) published a 24-page document on Tuesday outlining clear income tax rules for cryptocurrency and virtual assets. Tax practitioners, businesses and individual taxpayers now have clear direction on the tax requirements for acquiring, trading and selling cryptocurrencies.
The key takeaway is that individuals who sell BTC or ETH more than 12 months after acquisition will not be liable for taxes on the sale if they realize a profit.
11. US Senate confirms Jerome Powell for another four years as Fed chair
The United States Senate has confirmed the nomination of Jerome Powell as the chair of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System until 2026.
