News Updates May 22, 2023

1. Curtains Close for Hotbit, CEX Shuts Down All Operations. One of the world’s most prominent cryptocurrency trading platforms, Hotbit, formally announces its closure. In an official online notice, the platform makes it clear that the following month will be the last of its operational days. In short, according to the tweet above, Hotbit says it will suspend all of its operations starting today. In addition, it says that all Hotbit users must withdraw all of their remaining assets from the platform before June 21, 2023.

In detail, Hotbit says its 5 year and 4 month long quest has the team expressing their pride over providing and guiding its 5 million crypto users across the world. Unfortunately, the notice says, it is time for the exchange to take its final bow. 

The notice confirms that Hotbit will stop all CEX operations from May 22, UTC 4:00. Therefore, it requests all of its users to withdraw all assets by June 21, UTC 4:00. Accompanying this announcement are a few centric reasons behind the exchanges closure.

As it was for a few weeks in 2022, Hotbit’s management team was under a lot of pressure since August 2022 over an investigation crack down. During this incident, the exchange was forced to suspend operations for several weeks.

Following after, the crypto industry itself went through a tumultuous time, says the notice as part of the reasoning behind the closure. In detail, incidents such as the collapse of FTX, traditional banking crises, USDC off-pegging, and much more led to many CEX users pulling out their funds.

Furthermore, the changes in the crypto industry trend-wise, saw the collapse of many large and renowned centralized institutions. This pushed the industry to move in either two directions. The first being embracing regulations and the second being becoming more decentralized.

In the case of the latter, Hotbit believes CEXs are becoming cumbersome and complicated. More so, it says CEXs find it hard to comply with interconnected businesses. In either case, be it compliance or decentralization, Hotbit didn’t think it could meet long-term trends.

Despite being the first exchange to list emerging assets such as SHIB, the first to offer staking services from ATOM, and the first to conduct a DeFi mining business via Compound, Hotbit reminisces, the time has still come for the platform to end its story due to the uncertain state of the industry.

So far, Hotbit has taken hits from cyber attacks, malicious users, and more leading to critical losses. Finally, the notice says it is not an option for it to continue operating a model to support a wide range of assets from a risk management point of view.

The notice ends with a brief message to its users:

"That’s all, with so many joys and tears, our show is over. We want to say thank you and take a bow now. We still believe a bright future about crypto innovation and some of us will still fight for it".

2. Bitcoin to $7,000? Bloomberg's Top Expert Reveals Surprising BTC Analysis.

Bitcoin, the benchmark cryptocurrency, is facing potential reversion risks as it struggles to maintain its upward trajectory. Senior macro strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence Mike McGlone recently highlighted the downward trajectory of Bitcoin, emphasizing the risks associated with its current price level.

At the end of 2019, Bitcoin was valued at approximately $7,000 but experienced a significant liquidity pump, resulting in a surge in value. This historical event, according to McGlone, indicates the potential for a reversion to the mean. With Bitcoin hovering around $27,000 on May 19, there are concerns that the cryptocurrency may face a downward correction.

The 52-week moving average of BTC showcases a downward trend compared to the upward surge witnessed during the onset of the 2020, says McGlone. Despite bouncing back from a low point in 2022, when it reached around $15,000, Bitcoin's value soared to around $30,000 in April 2023, potentially indicating an overbought market. The patterns of Bitcoin's booms and busts, largely influenced by liquidity injections or removal, play a significant role in shaping market sentiment. McGlone suggests that respecting the down-sloping 52-week mean is crucial when considering the future direction of Bitcoin.

Interestingly, despite a bank run, the Federal Reserve has tightened its policies twice. This tenacity by the central bank might signal potential deflationary pressures on risk assets, believes the expert. McGlone notes that both the slumping copper market and cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin as the leading example, seem to be paying heed to these warnings, contrasting with the resilience displayed by the stock market.