Tether

USD Coin

 is currently at 62 in the Greed zone, up 7points from this time last week. The index reached a high of 62 on Thursday this week and a low of 48 on Tuesday this week. 

BTC Markets unveils the latest mobile app release: 

, including tracking your portfolio over time!

Digital asset majors stall higher before pressing to new highs for 2023.

Stablecoins continue to provide incredible profits amidst the bear market.

Correlation between Fed policy and financial markets reminds markets, “don't fight the Fed."

 are scheduled in the week ahead, including month-over-month producer price index (PPI) in the United States, and month-over-month retail sales in the United Kingdom. On Tuesday, 22nd February the RBA meeting minutes will be released in Australia, and on Wednesday, 23rd February Canada’s year-over-year inflation rate will be handed down. Leading into the end of next week, US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes will be released and year-over-year inflation rate in Japan will be announced.

The new week began to a soft start, with shares in Asia declining as investors positioned themselves for an action-packed week ahead, including the release of US consumer price data. The negative start to the week echoed across major indices in Asia, however, as the US markets kicked Monday’s session off with positive momentum, broader sentiment adjusted accordingly.

As the week progressed, all eyes shifted to US inflation data. For a seventh month in a row, 

, with CPI inflation rate slowing to 6.4% and monthly inflation lifting slightly by 0.5%, both targets meeting market expectations.

While there weren’t necessarily any major surprises hidden in the data, there certainly was plenty of volatility to trade. Liz Young, Head of Investment Strategy for SoFi tweeted, “head on a swivel today with the S&P 500 having six swings of at least 0.6%. I'll call this discombobulation station.”

TradingView chart of the S&P 500 in 1-minute intervals on 15th February 2023.

TradingView chart of Bitcoin, Ethereum, total crypto market cap, and Bitcoin dominance in 15-second intervals on 15th February 2023.

Finance writer Genevieve Roch Decter shared her thoughts regarding the latest US CPI report and the soft-landing narrative, commenting that “CPI came in at +6.4% yearly, higher than expected. In today's numbers, nearly 50% of the increase was shelter, which is lagging and should be lower by now. Shelter accounts for about one-third of the index, so it weighs heavily on the numbers. Wage inflation for 30% of the U.S population was up 6.3%. This is good, but nowhere near keeping up with inflation over the last year. So, unless you got a 7-10% raise... you are down. The FED has to keep hiking. They aren't going back to 2-3% inflation without tightening the belts further. So...Buckle up! Because they are attempting a soft landing on a rocky surface.” 

In her usual tone, she added, “Uber has no cars. Airbnb has no real estate. FED has no idea where inflation is going. This is the new economy.”

Chief Market Strategist, Charlie Bilello shared his perspective, stating that “the Fed is not done yet. The market is currently pricing in a high probability of a 25-basis point rate hike in March (to 4.75%-5.00) another one in May (to 5.00-5.25%).”

Deutsche Bank chief US economist, Matthew Luzzetti, shared his thoughts that the Fed will most likely raise rates by 25 basis points at its next four meetings, reaching a peak upwards of 5.5% to 5.75% by July 2023.

Harvard Professor of Economic Policy, Jason Furman stated, “a funny thing has happened: the market now largely believes the Fed will raise rates to 5-5.25% and keep them there. But the financial conditions that matter for the economy have loosened considerably since October. Meanwhile inflation is way above target and does not show any sign of falling towards it. The Fed could wait for the monetary tightening it has done to kick in but it is possible a lot already has. If the Fed wants more tightening it may need to do it. Meanwhile inflation is way above target and does not show any sign of falling towards it. The Fed could wait for the monetary tightening it has done to kick in, but it is possible a lot already has. If the Fed wants more tightening it may need to do it.”

The digital asset majors consolidated higher before pressing to new 2023 highs. Following a slight pullback and a retest of range lows around US$21,500 for Bitcoin and US$1,500 for Ethereum, the majors caught bids and proceeded in an impulsive move to the upside. After breaking out of local range highs, BTC reached a new 2023 high ofUS$24,900 and ETH hit a weekly high of US$1,712.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up 49.67% at US$24,747 and Ethereum was up 41.76% at US$1,693 in 2023.

Bitcoin dominance by market capitalisation was up 5.78% in 2023, positioning Bitcoin at 44.50% dominance. As expected from price action in 2023 thus far, total crypto market cap was up 41.66%, leaving US$1.07 trillion in the crypto markets.

TradingView chart of Bitcoin, Ethereum, total crypto market cap, and Bitcoin dominance in 1-hour intervals from 1st January 2023 to 16th February 2023.

Stablecoins have emerged as incredibly profitable amidst the bear market, according to the 

, issuer of the largest stablecoin by circulating supply. Tether generated more than US$7.5 million in profit every day in the last quarter and more than US$700 million in profit in the last quarter alone. The company's assets, almost all of which were related to backing USDT, amounted to more than US$67 billion, with its consolidated liabilities representing USDT's supply being US$66 billion. The excess reserves amounted to at least US$960 million, which would mean USDT was fully backed at the particular moment the snapshot was taken. However, it is important to note that attestations like these are not the same as audits.

Decentralised stablecoins such as MakerDAO's DAI are transparent and non-custodial, meaning anyone can see exactly which assets back the token at all times. On the other hand, centralised stablecoins like Tether and USDC are collateralised off-chain, making tracking asset backing difficult and reliant on third parties. While Tether has repeatedly promised an audit, one has never eventuated, and no traditional audit has been completed on any stablecoin, including Tether.

After testing local highs in the first week of February, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the digital asset majors seemed to lose steam. According to 

’s Senior Analyst, Vetle Lunde, “The market is overly optimistic regarding a swift Fed pivot. A combination of slowing momentum, strong technical resistance, and expectations of a hawkish FOMC leads me to expect a poor February in the market.”

Arcane research analysed Bitcoin's minute-by-minute volatility relating to recent central bank activity and found that the market may be overly optimistic about a swift Fed pivot. Lunde suggested that a combination of slowing momentum, strong technical resistance, and hawkish FOMC expectations may mean increased volatility in February for the market. The age-old adage of "don't fight the Fed” points to the strong correlation between Fed policy and financial markets.

In the short-term, Lunde believes that January’s crypto rally was overextended across multiple metrics, resulting in a short squeeze which wiped out significant leverage. Despite a strong start to the year in cryptos, most assets have remained extremely undervalued relative to where they were trading in the bull market highs of 2021's when bitcoin surpassed $US69,000.

According to a recent study by JPMorgan and consulting firm Oliver Wyman, tokenised fiat deposits, known as "

," could be a safer and more secure option for transferring value across blockchains than stablecoins. While stablecoins have been the primary solution for blockchain-based "cash equivalents," deposit tokens could better meet the needs of regulated banking institutions.

Deposit tokens operate similarly to traditional bank deposits, but on a blockchain. They are seen as a "stable form of money" and can be supported by the issuing bank's regulatory framework, capital and liquidity requirements, contingency funding access, and consumer protection policies. According to JPMorgan, deposit tokens would not cause a pricing disparity, unlike stablecoin liquidity pools.

JPMorgan has been involved in blockchain development and implementation for at least six years and is currently focused on its tokenisation platform Onyx, a permissioned interbank protocol settled in its USD-backed stablecoin JPM Coin.

Our design and development teams have taken your feedback into consideration and made several enhancements to the portfolio feature in the mobile app. The result is a more streamlined user interface and an elevated overall customer experience. You can now easily:

Investigate how your total equity has change over time via our new interactive portfolio charts, with the total change across the selected timeframe summarised in AUD and as a percentage;

View a summary of your portfolio diversification, highlighting what assets you hold, what percentage of your portfolio they account for, and the current value of your holdings in the base currency and in AUD;

Dive further into specific assets and review how your holdings of an asset have changed over time using our interactive portfolio charts; and

Easily access deposit options for assets, directly from the asset portfolio screen.

This feature has been developed on both iOS and Android with accessibility in mind. Visually impaired users can zoom the screen and increase text size with minimal degradation to the interface, and screen reader functionality has been included on both platforms.

This enhancement also provides the foundation to offer portfolio P&L data in the not-too-distant future.

Other updates included in this latest release:

Bug fix to ‘Spend All/Sell All’ feature to calculate based on ‘Price’ input rather than only ‘Best Buy/Best Sell’ price

Please note: Our new app releases to the App Store no longer support iOS 14. Only iPhone users running iOS 15 or later will be able to download this latest release. Update your version or download the app now from the App Store (iOS) and Google Play Store (Android).

We would like to bring to your attention to an increase in scams targeting BTC Markets clients. Our Customer Support Team will never cold call you to request personal information, transfer funds, share passwords, or to gain remote computer access. We advise all clients to be hyper vigilant regarding fake websites, phony social media accounts, scam social media posts and fraudulent callers posing as BTC Markets representatives. Do not provide personal or credit card information through email or social media. There has also been an increase in scammers utilising celebrity profiles and their content to endorse their investment scams.

 page on our website and encourage you to read it. Additionally, the Australian government's '

' website provides updated information on recognising, avoiding, and reporting scams. If you have any concerns, please submit a support ticket through our platform or read our online safety article for more information.

The information provided in this email is for general purposes only. It should not be construed as professional financial advice from BTC Markets Pty Ltd. BTC Markets is not a financial adviser, and you should consider seeking independent legal, financial, taxation or other advice to ensure that the information relates to your unique circumstances. BTC Markets is not liable for any loss caused, whether due to negligence or otherwise arising from the use of, or reliance on, the information provided directly or indirectly, by use of this information contained within this email. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance. We note that we may, at any time, change the characteristics of the product. The information provided is intended for recipients in Australia. This information is not to be reproduced without permission.

Prices are accurate as of 11:00 AM AEDT, on 16/02/2023.

This Week in Crypto: 16th February 2023

 is currently at 55 in the Greed zone, down 5 points from this time last week. The index reached a high of 60 on Friday last week and a low of 54 on Tuesday this week.

Markets take pause to digest latest data from global central banks.

Australian Treasury releases Token Mapping Consultation paper.

Digital asset majors stall higher but continue to consolidate above local support.

Mastercard, Goldman Sachs, Fidelity, and other traditional finance heavyweights utilise blockchain technology to ‘rewrite’ global finance.

BTC Markets CEO, Caroline Bowler joins Ausbiz to discuss the Australian crypto industry.

 are scheduled in the week ahead, including Westpac’s consumer confidence change and NAB’s business confidence in Australia on Tuesday, 14th February. The GDP growth rate will be handed down in Japan and year-over-year core inflation rate will be released in the US. Japan will release balance of trade data on Thursday, 16th February and the United Kingdom will release month-over-month retail sales on Friday, 17th February.

Following a robust schedule of macroeconomic activity this past week, investors took pause to digest the latest data releases from the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of England. The market seemed to readjust expectations from the US Fed, considering the likelihood of more aggressive interest rate hikes following strong economic data. 

Overall excitement from January’s rally showed early signs of stalling and attention shifted to the latest buzz in the world of AI chatbots where a race between ChatGPT and Microsoft’s US$10 billion investment in OpenAI, Google’s Bard AI, and Baidu’s Ernie was well under way.

Following the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates by 0.25% in 

 FOMC press conference, Federal Chair Jerome Powell addressed the Economic Club event in Washington, D.C. Chair Powell’s comments signaled caution about strong economic data, stating that “the reality is we’re going to react to the data. So, if we continue to get, for example, strong labor market reports or higher inflation reports, it may well be the case that we have to do more and raise rates more than is priced in.”

JP Morgan strategist, Marko Kolanovic shared his expectations of two more Fed rate hikes in March and May, calling the latest market rally a bear trap. Kolanovic reiterated that investors should “fade last week’s Federal Reserve induced stock-market rally,” arguing that recent disinflationary metrics in the US may indeed only be transitory.

Jurrien Timmer, Director of Global Macro at Fidelity Investments, provided his perspective regarding last week’s market surge, commenting that “the market is trading several points above fair value, taking into account where we are in both the earnings and rate cycle. The bear market may or may not be over. Either way, between the technicals, valuation, and where we are in the earnings cycle, an S&P 500 trading at 4195 is not a great level at which to be increasing allocations. The market wants and expects a soft landing and Goldilocks scenario. After last week, we are at peak Goldilocks, and it has been fully priced in.”

Bloomberg Intelligence macro strategist, Mike McGlone shared his macro-outlook which included a perspective of crypto, stating that “markets typically make it difficult to identify bottoms, and the Federal Reserve is still tightening in February despite rising recession risks, and that should remain a headwind for most risk assets, particularly cryptos.” When addressing the digital asset majors, McGlone shared his thoughts that “the maturing crypto market appears similar to the bottom process of 2018-2019, with two key differences: the Fed is tightening and Ethereum is keeping up with Bitcoin. A foundation appears to be forming in Bitcoin vs. the stock market.”

The digital asset majors stalled higher, continuing to consolidate above established support around US$22,500 for Bitcoin and US$1,500 for Ethereum.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up 39.09% at US$22,987 and Ethereum was up 38.45% at US$1,653 in 2023.

Over the past two weeks, Bitcoin’s dominance by market capitalisation pulled back to 43.16% dominance. At the peak of local highs, Total crypto market cap topped US$1.06 trillion before pulling back to current levels at US $1.02 trillion total capitalisation.


The chart below shows the relative performance of Bitcoin, Ethereum, ETH/BTC, Bitcoin dominance by market cap, and total crypto market cap in 1hr increments from 1st January 2023.

As a follow-up from a previous edition of 

 which covered Relative Strength Index (RSI), Bitcoin’s daily RSI has cooled off slightly from 14th January highs but has continued to show significant strength.

The chart below shows the daily RSI from January 2020 to February 2023. The chart illustrates fluctuations in Bitcoin’s relative strength and the observer can see overbought, oversold, and neutral RSI during the timeframe provided. Notice that from 10th of January to 1st February 2023, RSI measured as high as 89.24, but has cooled off slightly to a current level of 60.04.

Leading blockchain data and intelligence platform, Glassnode released their latest 

 which suggested that data is showing a potential turning of macro market regime. The report, titled ‘Shifting Market Tides,’ provided an in-depth look under the hood of the market for onchain activity. Generally, it takes time to turn a market around and a transition in market regime doesn’t happen overnight. Historically, previous bear markets like the ones seen in 2011-’12, 2014-’15, 2019-’20, took around a year to consolidate before establishing a true market bottom. According to Glassnode, “following an explosive month of volatile price action, Bitcoin is consolidating above the on-chain cost-basis of several cohorts. This puts the average BTC holder into a regime of unrealised profit and demonstrates a potential turning of the macro market tides is underway.”

Glassnode’s analysis found that the net unrealised profit to loss ratio shows that the recent rally in markets has shifted the market regime to one in which the average holder is ‘back in the green.’

According to the report, while the change in trend remains young, it appears that the market is within a transitional phase where “the rotation of capital from Long-Term Holders to the Short-Term Holder cohort has been a persistent trend over the last 12-months. This is elegantly reflected in the growing wealth held by the Short-Term Holder cohort, absorbing coins from their Long-Term Holder counterparts who continue to distribute.”

Mastercard, Goldman, and TradFi Titans in Blockchain.

Mastercard, Goldman Sachs, Fidelity, and other traditional finance heavyweights are utilising blockchain technology to ‘rewrite’ global finance, according to a recent 

CEO of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon stated that “under the guidance of a regulated financial institution like ours, blockchain innovations can flourish,” and Matthew McDermott, Head of Digital Assets at Goldman described the way they see huge commercial opportunity in the digital asset space. For example, McDermott and his 70-person team successfully underwrote an EU$100 million bond offering for the European investment bank in a process which took only 60 seconds, where typically, a bond sale of the kind would take around five days.

Chief executive of Mastercard, Michael Miebach shared his opinion that crypto’s recent challenges may accelerate adoption of blockchain technology, suggesting that “you are going to get more mainstream players in, and the regulators are going to show up to address the risks. That’s a recipe for this to become a mainstream technology.”

Payment giant Visa is reportedly seeking customer requests to convert digital assets into fiat payments, similar to how it settles foreign currencies. When it comes to blockchain technology and digital assets, Visa has continued to carry course on their strategy, targeting speed and settlements.“We’re thinking a lot about how to take some of the value that Visa provides on existing bank rails, with existing forms and rebuild that on top of blockchain rails."

Visa is investing in global settlement between digital assets and fiat currencies and is exploring how to utilise blockchain technology to improve speed and efficiency of existing networks. According to Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa, “the same way that we can convert between dollars in euros on a cross-border transaction, we should be able to convert between digital tokenised dollars and traditional dollars.”

 Sheffield said that “the ability to make settlement payments to Visa in digital currencies could offer meaningful benefits and efficiencies, particularly for fintechs who run their business in crypto.”

BTC Markets welcomes this week’s announcement and publication from Treasury regarding token mapping. It is timely given recent announcements from the US and UK on similar topics, highlighting the need for Australia to stay at pace with the rest of the world. We also note the recognition of international coordination as a key building block, a sentiment also mirrored by global regulatory peers. Both of these facets are crucial if Australia is to remain globally competitive in the digital economy.

The consultation paper stated that the 1997 Wallis inquiry into financial regulation “targets the performance of intermediaries, agents, and financial markets.” The consultation paper goes on to say that “Products that truly involve none of these three concepts may – without reforms and new regulatory approaches – be fundamentally incompatible with the existing financial services regulatory framework.” This is important recognition as one fundamental tenet of the crypto economy involves decentralisation and the removal of intermediaries.

BTC Markets are grateful for the work Treasury have already committed to this subject. We welcome the chance to continue our consultations with government and regulators on these vital issues. 

 to discuss the state of crypto and the impact of the Treasury’s latest token mapping paper on the Australian crypto industry.

When asked if she would go so far to say the crypto winter is over, Caroline commented that "I think that we're seeing a thawing, I wouldn't go so far to say that it's gone. In January there was an increased movement in terms of liquidity of the market, which is a very good indicator of health. I still think that we have a little bit further to go before we can officially declare that spring has arrived in crypto, to take that analogy further”.

 paper, Caroline commented that “in Australia specifically, they take a different view to regulation, or to the devising regulation compared to some of our international counterparts. Here, they follow the Bank of International Settlements by applying what they call a functional approach to regulation, which is to say they look at the function of the particular asset, activity, product or what have you and see if it maps to existing financial services, activities, and regulation. That differs from, say, what the US are doing which is more of a risk and activities-based approach.

We're seeing both these different approaches against a backdrop of what we've seen coming out of Europe with MiCA and what we're seeing out the US coming forward.

Here, locally, Treasury are looking at token mapping, which is to determine the function behind each of these different tokens and see if they sit within existing financial regulations. Others, as perhaps just a digital identification, which although may be cryptocurrency in name, may not be cryptocurrency in a financial sense in its function.

And so that's why it's so important to see the outcome and really be engaged in this token mapping as Treasury has outlined.”

 The information provided in this email is for general purposes only. It should not be construed as professional financial advice from BTC Markets Pty Ltd. BTC Markets is not a financial adviser, and you should consider seeking independent legal, financial, taxation or other advice to ensure that the information relates to your unique circumstances. BTC Markets is not liable for any loss caused, whether due to negligence or otherwise arising from the use of, or reliance on, the information provided directly or indirectly, by use of this information contained within this email. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance. We note that we may, at any time, change the characteristics of the product. The information provided is intended for recipients in Australia. This information is not to be reproduced without permission.

Prices are accurate as of 11:00 AM AEDT, on 09/02/2023

This Week in Crypto: 9th February 2023

 is currently at 60 in the Greed zone, up 2 points from this time last week. The index reached a high of 61 on Monday and a low of 51 on Tuesday this week. 

Markets attempt to stay one step ahead of the curve of February's FOMC press conference.

Nasdaq prints its strongest January in over two decades.

Bitcoin lifts 39.95%, Ethereum gains 32.73%, and total crypto market cap closes above US$1.01 trillion.

Fidelity Digital Assets covers the latest developments in their 2023 Look Ahead report. 

 are scheduled, including US unemployment rate, non-farm payrolls, and non-manufacturing PMI. In Australia, balance of trade and the RBA interest rate decision will be handed down on Tuesday, 7th February, and balance of trade will also be released from Canada and the US on Wednesday, 8th of Feb. Year-over-year inflation rates will be released from China, and year-over-year growth rates will be handed down in the United Kingdom.

 also continues in full swing with expected results from PayPal, Uber, Disney, PepsiCo, and CME Group among others in the upcoming week.

Markets surprised to the upside as January’s trade came to an end. The Dow rose 2.8%, the S&P gained 6.2%, and the Nasdaq printed its strongest January in over twenty years, lifting upwards of 10.8% on the month. The picture, however, remained mixed and seemed to lack a cohesive picture. Many macro-outlook reports for 2023 suggested that the first half of the year would be all about defense, and yet, in the single month of January global markets rallied. At the start to February’s trade, investors were encouraged by US inflation data having met expectations but remained cautious leading into the February 1st 

Market participants attempted to stay one step ahead of the curve, eyeing the FOMC press conference closely for signals of what was yet to come. How many more 0.25% interest rate increases would continue throughout the year and how close was the Fed to wrapping up their tightening process?

Results met expectations of a rate increase of 0.25%, bringing rates to a target range of 4.5% to 4.75% and the markets responded positively. While Powell's messaging suggested ongoing increases in upcoming meetings in March and May, a less than hawkish tone seemed to encourage equities higher.

In his comments, Federal Chair Jerome Powell stated, “today the FOMC raised our policy interest rate by 0.25%. We continue to anticipate that ongoing increases will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2% over time. In addition, we are continuing the process of significantly reducing the size of our balance sheet.” Powell added, “restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive stance for some time."

Chief Economics Correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Nick Timraos commented that “the Fed is finally getting more of the data they've wanted but wants to ensure disinflation isn't transitory. That's why their outlook for the labour market and the role they think it'll play in sustaining progress is and could continue to be a big focus.”

Colby Smith, US Economics Editor for the Financial Times, stated that “Powell's message today is that it's premature to ‘declare victory’ in the fight against inflation, despite encouraging signs that the disinflation process is underway. The Fed is not yet done raising rates and is still more concerned about not doing enough rather than too much.” Smith continued, “per the policy statement, the FOMC still anticipates ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate.”

Bitcoin closed the monthly candle of January 39.95% higher at US$23,132 and Ethereum lifted 32.73% on the month to US$1,585. Bitcoin dominance rose 5.50% in January, positioning BTC at 44.39% dominance by market cap. Total crypto market capitalisation gained 32.87%, closing the month above the key level of US$1.01 trillion.

The chart below shows the relative performance of Bitcoin, Ethereum, ETH/BTC, Bitcoin dominance by market cap, and total crypto market cap in 1hr increments for the month of January 2023.

One metric we wanted to share in this week’s edition was Bitcoin’s correlation with the major indices. When measuring daily correlation with the Nasdaq, for example, Bitcoin was significantly negatively correlated in only 4% of the period shown below, meaning that when Nasdaq traded higher, Bitcoin traded lower and vice versa. Conversely, 62% of the time, Bitcoin was significantly positively correlated, meaning that when Nasdaq traded higher, Bitcoin also traded higher. When measured against the S&P, the results were very similar with 4.6% significant negative correlation and 57.6% positive correlation for the given timeframe.

The reason why these relationships matter is because Bitcoin is positioned in a complex economic context amongst global financial markets, and of course, does not exist in a vacuum. Because of Bitcoin’s general correlation with major financial markets, it’s important to understand how digital assets are positioned relative to macroeconomics and what’s going on in in the bigger picture.

The following chart illustrates Bitcoin’s relationship to the largest and most liquid markets in the world, the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq from November 2021 (Bitcoin’s all-time high) to February 2023. Note that even to the naked eye, the visual movement follows a similar pattern to a certain degree. This pattern of correlation can also be observed on lower timeframes.

The following chart shows the aforementioned correlation occurring over a shorter timeframe, during a single day of trade. The chart displays the performance of Bitcoin, Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq in one-minute increments on 2nd February. Note the behavioral similarities between the two charts, where in the case of the chart below, the markets tracked together in correlation for nearly the entirety of the US trading session.

’ research study trended this past week. The original report, released in January 2022, outlined why Bitcoin is best understood as a monetary good, why it is fundamentally different from any other digital asset, and why one of the primary investment theses for Bitcoin is “as a store of value asset in an increasingly digital world.” The report also provided an in-depth view of digital assets’ place in an investment portfolio, including Bitcoin’s risks, potential sources of return, and its overall role in the portfolio.

 report, where they share their view of the biggest developments in the digital asset space to keep an eye on. The report covers macro, price action, and trends to follow.

As a point of context, Fidelity Investments is one of the largest mutual fund companies in the US, with over US$9.6 trillion in assets under administration. Their digital asset arm, Fidelity Digital Assets, was created as a dedicated business to support the broader adoption of the digital asset class.

A recent article by Blockworks addressed the 

 (USDT), the most widely used stablecoin in the digital asset space. Ranked 

 USDT’s total market capitalisation is over US$67.8 billion and has traded in excess of US$980 billion in exchange volume over the past thirty days. When compared to other major stablecoins like USD Coin (USDC), USDT tends to trade exponentially greater volume despite its market cap being only 50% larger.

In a recent newsletter, Tether commented that “we think the continued growth of Tether supply is a positive indicator for the continued price rally.” The overall growth of USDT has historically been a positive sign for the market, however, not everyone is convinced USDT’s growth is a precursor to price rallies.

Crypto intelligence platform, Messari, released their ‘

’ report this past week. The report unpacked Avalanche’s (AVAX) 2022 performance and provided insight surrounding the network. Despite headwinds in 2022, daily active transactions on Avalanche remained stable, averaging over 2.9 million transactions per day.

According to the report, one of Avalanche’s strongest key metrics was overall network health. Research analyst, James Trautman stated that “the continued growth in address activity on subnets indicates demand for those network’s applications and that subnet functionality is healthy.” Trautman continued, adding that “Avalanche's network and ecosystem showed considerable strength and development, making significant strides towards adoption, several upgrades to subnets, integrated with strategic partners, and expanded into DeFi, NFTs, GameFi, and beyond.”

We’re pleased to announce that Solana is now live on BTC Markets!

Solana is a powerful, fast, and energy-efficient blockchain platform that is designed to bring blockchain technology to the masses. It is ideal for developers, users, and anyone in between. Its fast block times, decentralised architecture, scalability, and energy efficiency make it a great choice for any project. Additionally, its low transaction fees and easy-to-use interface make it a perfect choice for anyone looking to explore the world of blockchain technology.

, has been accepted. Analysis and implementation timetable is expected to follow next week.

As the incentive pool operates in a similar way to a staking product, BTC Markets is unable to offer this service currently due to Australian regulatory constraints.

BTC Markets customers that wish to receive future distributions of FLR tokens from the underlying network will need to move their FLR tokens to a platform that supports the wrapping and delegation of FLR tokens.

We would like to bring to your attention an increase in scams targeting BTC Markets clients. Our Customer Support Team will never cold call you to request personal information, transfer funds, share passwords, or to gain remote computer access. We advise all clients to be hyper vigilant regarding fake websites and social media accounts, scam social media posts and fraudulent callers posing as BTC Markets representatives. Do not provide personal or credit card information through email or social media.

The information provided in this email is for general purposes only. It should not be construed as professional financial advice from BTC Markets Pty Ltd. BTC Markets is not a financial adviser, and you should consider seeking independent legal, financial, taxation or other advice to ensure that the information relates to your unique circumstances. BTC Markets is not liable for any loss caused, whether due to negligence or otherwise arising from the use of, or reliance on, the information provided directly or indirectly, by use of this information contained with this email.

Prices are accurate as of 11:00 AM AEDT, on 02/02/2023.

This Week in Crypto: 2nd February 2023

 is currently at 51 in the Neutral zone, up 6 points from this time last week. The index reached a high of 53 on Saturday and a low of 45 on Thursday last week.

Solana is coming to BTC Markets on Wednesday, February 1st.

Bitcoin and Ethereum consolidate at higher levels, above US$22,500 and US$1,500 respectively.

Global central bank policy and earnings season drive action in major global markets.

Macro volatility paints a mixed picture of strong price-appreciation against increased talks of recession in major economies.

 are scheduled in the week ahead, including US producer prices and year-over-year inflation rates coming from Australia, Japan, and Canada. Month-over-month consumer confidence will be handed down in the United Kingdom and in Germany.

 will continue in the upcoming week with major companies issuing results including Tesla, Spotify, Meta, Amazon, Apple, and more.

In the past week, macro market volatility provided a complex and nuanced backdrop in the global financial markets.

Market participants showed optimism toward a potential recovery in 2023 driven by cooling inflation, lower energy prices, and overall improved sentiment. Early hopes of a soft landing in the US economy drove share markets higher, however, an increased pace of contraction suggested the economy was losing short-term momentum.

Technology stocks led gains in European markets and energy prices declined, further fueling hopes that Europe would avoid a deep recession.

Asian financial markets continued their move to the upside, led by an improved outlook that China’s economy would fully recover in 2023. Share markets in China and Hong Kong posted a strong start to the year and tested 6-month highs, only to slow for a week-long celebration of Lunar New Year.

Local share markets in Australia continued higher toward new all-time highs, posting the second-best start to a year in over three decades.

As major markets exhibited unparalleled strength against macro volatility, differing perspectives revealed mixed sentiment; were markets seeing the start of a new cycle regime or just another bear market rally?

Investors and money managers began to rotate out of defensives and into a risk-on bias leading into earnings season, but price action perplexed many market participants. For example, Microsoft shares lifted 4% following the company’s worst revenue growth since 2016 and its slowest sales growth in six years. Google shares lifted 5% following news that they would lay off 12,000 employees.

Mike McGlone, Senior Macro Strategist for Bloomberg Intelligence, commented that the US is “heading toward a recession, that’s almost indisputable, the question is how we prevent that. I don’t know what’s going to prevent it and the key fact I like to point out is this is a very rare situation that we have the most central banks in history tightening into a recession.”

Leading global investment manager, BlackRock shared their view that the market view appears too rosy for now, stating that “markets are feeling optimistic: China’s reopening, energy prices are falling, inflation is cooling. That all reinforces our positive long-term view on equities. But we’re underweight in the near term. We think that optimism has come too soon.”

The digital asset majors continued to consolidate at higher levels, attempting to establish support aboveUS$22,500 for Bitcoin and US$1,500 for Ether.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up 36.95% at US$22,638 and Ether was up 30.25% at US$1,556 in 2023.

Over the past two weeks, prices drove Bitcoin’s dominance of market capitalisation to 7-month highs of 44.65% dominance. At the peak of local highs, Total crypto market cap toppedUS$1.02 trillion before pulling back to US$977 billion.

As expected in Bitcoin’s outperformance of Ether over the past two weeks, the ETH/BTC pair pulled back to US$0.07.


The chart below shows the relative performance of Bitcoin, Ether, ETH/BTC, Bitcoin dominance by market cap, and total crypto market cap in 1hr increments from 1st January 2023.

According to global consulting firm, Boston Consulting Group, blockchain enabled 

 could reach capitalisation upwards of US$16 trillion by 2030. A key driver of institutional involvement in tokenisation extends far beyond stablecoins and crypto assets.

In addition to digital assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether, hard assets like commodities and property are becoming increasingly digitised to improve liquidity in otherwise illiquid markets. Persistent adoption of blockchain technology by financial institutions and the recognition of competitive advantage over traditional payment systems continues to drive the bank race.

Dr. Tony Richards, Chairman of the Digital Finance CBDC committee stated that “there will be increasing tokenisation of all sorts of assets to facilitate trading of those assets, both in traditional asset classes and new ones that are not tradeable right now. Bringing liquidity to new asset classes will enable new investment products and new risk management opportunities.”

National Australia Bank (NAB) has created a 

, AUDN, which will allow corporate customers to settle transactions in real-time using blockchain technology. Intended to launch mid-2023, AUDN will enable faster transactions, international payments, and improved efficiency of settlement processes.

NAB’s Chief Innovation Officer, Howard Silby commented that “We certainly believe there are elements of blockchain technology that will form part of the future of finance. That continues to be the source of some debate. But certainly, from our point of view, we see blockchain has the potential to deliver instantaneous, transparent, inclusive, financial outcomes.”

AUDN will be fully backed one-to-one with the Australian dollar and will be built on the Ethereum network. Given their well trusted and highly regulated standing, NAB has been working closely with Australian regulators whilst also enabling innovation of the digital economy.

When referring to the regulatory landscape, Silby stated that NAB has a “strong regulatory framework for banking. How digital assets will be treated is still emerging. But what is clear is it is less about the tech and more about whether companies in the space have governance practices, separation of duties, and understand differences in custody and trading. These are things banks are well experienced at.”

We are excited to announce that BTC Markets will be listing Solana (SOL) on our platform.

In preparation for the launch, deposits, withdrawals, and post-only orders will be enabled on Tuesday, January 31st with the market scheduled to go fully live on Wednesday, February 1st.

Solana is a blockchain platform that is designed to bring blockchain technology to the masses. It is fast, scalable, and energy-efficient, making it an excellent choice for developers and users alike.

One of the most striking features of Solana is its speed. With block times of just 400 milliseconds, Solana can process transactions much faster than most other blockchain networks. This development represents a significant advancement for users, as it eliminates the need for prolonged waiting times for transaction processing.

Learn more about 

Our CEO, Caroline Bowler provided commentary in a recent 

 which covered crypto regulation. When addressing a potentially overly prescriptive approach to regulation, Caroline commented that “this may put our digital economy on the back foot, in time, smothering our international competitiveness.”

The crypto industry in Australia has been agitating for the appropriate regulation in the digital asset sector for the past couple of years. BTC Markets worked closely with the cross-party senate committee in 2021, contributing to their report on Australia as a financial and technology centre.

The bipartisan recommendations included a regulatory framework, with Treasury oversight of crypto exchanges. This approach would provide proportionate investor protections and solidify Australia's leading international position in this sector.

The European model of "regulating innovation in rather than out" leaves flexibility and room for the inevitable changes in our fast-paced industry. BTC Markets welcomes the opportunity to continue our consultations with government and regulators on these vital issues.

Staying safe - protect yourself online. 


Scams are on the rise in Australia, and some of them are targeting BTC Markets clients. We want to remind you of the importance of safe online practices, so that you can avoid falling victim to these scams.

Beware of scam callers pretending to be from BTC Markets! We will never cold call you asking you to make investments, for verification codes, passwords, or to transfer funds. If you receive a call from someone claiming to be from BTC Markets, please do not engage with them and instead raise a support ticket through the platform for further assistance.

The most common scams right now include fake websites, social media posts, and scam callers that attempt to steal your personal information. Scammers may pose as representatives from companies that you interact with such as BTC Markets, and they use these fake sites to trick you into handing over your personal information. These sites often look like real websites with logos and addresses that make them appear like they're legitimate.

You should never give out your personal information or provide credit card information over email or social media messenger chats. We have a dedicated page on how to '

', which we encourage you to read. Being informed and taking simple measures is the best action you can take to protect yourself and your account while online. The Australian government’s ‘

’ website provides the latest information on how to recognise, avoid and report scams.

Prices are accurate as of 11:00 AM AEDT, on 25/01/2023

This Week in Crypto: 25th January 2023

 is currently at 45 in the Fear zone, up 15 points from this time last week. The index reached a high of 52 on Wednesday and a low of 30 on Thursday last week.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP reach highs upwards of 30% from the start of 2023.

Markets rise on signs of cooling inflation and decreased bond volatility.

Dynamic macro drivers from the US, Japan, and China impact markets.

Europe’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) scheduled for April 2023.

 (CPI) was released this past week, in what was likely the most important piece of economic data this year so far. Markets rose sharply as investors anticipated cooling inflationary pressures and likelihood of the Fed dialling back on aggressive interest rate hikes.

Consumer prices declined 0.10% month-over-month in December and year-over-year CPI decreased from 7.1% to 6.5%, marking the sixth consecutive month of lower inflation, albeit well above the Fed’s 2% target.

Jurrien Timmer, Director of Global Macro at Fidelity Investments, commented that “gains in the market, combined with better inflation reports, have renewed talk of a soft landing, and therefore the prospect that the bottom may be in for stocks and that risk assets will rally from here. The challenge for the soft-landing narrative: The yield curve is the most inverted since 1981 and the Fed is poised to get deep into a restrictive zone that in past cycles always led to recession. Nonetheless, based on the current valuation, a soft landing is the consensus.”

According to Alfonso Peccatiello, Founder and CEO of The Macro Compass, reduced bond market volatility has been another primary driver of the recent rally. With less volatile bond markets, “it’s easier for investors to add risk to their portfolio.”

On Tuesday, the Chinese economy released relatively weak economic growth data, however, the report exceeded market expectations and was bolstered by China’s post-Covid reopening and messages of international 

 surprised market expectations and left its yield curve control policy unchanged. By unanimous vote, the BOJ maintained yield curve control targets of -0.1% for short-term interest rates and would continue to purchase the necessary amount of Japanese government bonds for the 10-year yield to remain around 0%.

Following the unexpected decision, hawkish expectations were disappointed and investors defensively unwound positions causing the yen to decline against major currencies.

The week ahead will continue to provide a number of high impact 

 releases, including US producer prices and year-over-year inflation rates coming from Australia, Japan, and Canada. Additionally, month-over-month consumer confidence will be handed down in the United Kingdom and in Germany.

The broader crypto market continued to exhibit strength. Bitcoin pressed to highs upwards of US$21,600 and Ether saw highs above US$1,600. Supported by improved sentiment, indications of cooling inflation, and a shift in short-term market regime, the rally showed little signs of slowing.

In a technical trading display, Bitcoin broke out of a mid-term trend and pressed above the 200 daily moving average. In the series of a week, Bitcoin lifted 21.95%.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up 25.38% at US$20,676 and Ether was up 26.54% at US$1,511 from the start of 2023.

The chart above shows the relative performance of Bitcoin, Ether, ETH/BTC, Bitcoin dominance by market cap, and total crypto market cap in 1hr increments from 1st January 2023.

Bitcoin dominance by market capitalisation was up 3.21% in 2023, positioning Bitcoin at 43.43% dominance by market cap.

As observed in Ether’s continued outperformance relative to Bitcoin, the ETH/BTC pair was up 1.16% at $0.073.

From 1st of January 2023, crypto market capitalisation was 21.31% higher at US$917.26 billion.

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