Overview
- The Virtual Currency Tax Fairness Act bill.
- Celsius sends Tether the cheque.
- Terra lawsuit continues.
- Shiba Inu Visa card.
- ENS dedicated marketplace.
Good morning Banter Fam,
Today is the dreaded interest rate hike.
The CME FedWatch Tool gives a probability of 75 and 100 bps hikes of 75% and 25% accordingly.
Expected: 2.5% (75 bps or .75%)
Previous: 1.75%
Keeping things simple: If the Fed commits to the 75 bps, it’s likely priced in. If they conduct a surprise change, then watch out! Volatility ahead!
The news releases at 08:00 EST.
Institutional Inflows
Coinshares released their weekly institutional inflow/outflow report with a few surprises. The reported numbers from two weeks ago had a few “minor” tweaks after some late data reporting.
Initially, the report from last week noted a quiet week in the institutional front with $27m worth of inflows, but after revisions, CoinShares adjusted inflows to $343m. To clarify, this was data from two weeks ago. The weekly inflows are the largest seen since Nov 2021. Total assets under management now stand at $30b.
Last week was relatively quiet with inflows of $19m. Notably, 90% of the previous month’s inflows went into Bitcoin and Ethereum. In addition, another small chunk entered Short Bitcoin products. Can this trend hold, or will we see another significant sell-off like five weeks ago?
Market update 🌍
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq failed to react harshly to the earnings posted by Alphabet and Microsoft who missed revenue and earnings projections by narrow margins. The neutral sentiment caused Bitcoin and the broader crypto market to remain flat for the day.
Bitcoin, which fell below its $22k support yesterday, looks to be testing the red downtrend line. With a lack of volume and a shaky macro foundation it is hard to tell the direction it will take, but there should be a strong reaction off of the trendline. BTC completed the daily session down 0.22% to $21,259.
High-resolution chart
| US markets close | Gain |
| S&P 500 | -1.15% |
| Nasdaq | +0.66% |
| Dow | -0.72% |
| VIX | +6.13% |
Notable Gainers (24h):
| Protocol (Coin) | Price ($) | Gain (%) |
| OKB (OKB) | 15.38 | +4 |
| Ethereum Classic (ETC) | 24.83 | +3 |
| Moreno (XMR) | 149.00 | +2 |
| Yearn.finance (YFI) | 6801.45 | +6 |
| Qtum (QTUM) | 3.63 | +5 |
| Trust Wallet (TWT) | 0.93 | +3 |
| dYdX (DYDX) | 2.07 | +3 |
| Radicle (RAD) | 2.74 | +43 |
| Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index | 26 Fear |
| “Crypto” Google Trends 90d | 16 |
| “Bitcoin” Google Trends 90d | 30 |
Newswatch 📰
Tax-free crypto transactions. US senators Pat Toomey and Kyrsten Sinema proposed a bipartisan bill that gives tax exemptions to crypto transactions under $50. The bill attempts to encourage crypto adoption as a means of payment and to further the technological advancement of the sector. However, the bill titled “The Virtual Currency Tax Fairness Act” has received criticism, citing its broad perspective.
Can Celsius recover $840m from Tether? Tether liquidated an $840m loan from Celsius, but bankruptcy lawyers are reviewing the process for its validity. In addition, lawyers are examining the case in detail to see if Celsius can reclaim the $840m position that used BTC as collateral. Tether has not commented, but ultimately the legal proceedings will decide the matter.
FatManTerra joins a class action lawsuit versus Terraform Labs. The Dark Knight of the Terra/ LUNA debacle has joined a class action lawsuit by Scott & Scott to uncover the wrongdoing of the Jump Capital and Terraforms Labs team during the collapse of the Terra ecosystem and UST token. FatManTerra explains in the thread below:
News tidbits:
- Shiba Inu announces their SHIB Burn Visa Card is coming on July the 25th.
At the protocol level ⛓
The new central bank of DeFi? Utilizing Stargate Finance (STG), Radiant Capital looks to become the “new central bank of DeFi”. The protocol aims to become the first omnichain money market, where any user can deposit and borrow assets across multiple chains. Lofty goals!
Protocol level tidbits:
- Audius post-mortem.
- Deep dive into Keets: P2P chat app.
- 20% yield on delta-neutral strategies using Umami Finance.
- Deep dive into Sei Network.
- Comparison between Polkadot (DOT) and Cosmos (ATOM) thread.
- Optimism (OP) introduces Drippie, a trust-minimized Ethereum-Native conditional transaction system.
NFT & Metaverse update 🐵
- ENS releases a specialized marketplace for ENS domains, ENSvision.
- The Christopher Wallace foundation introduces the Notorious B.I.G. NFT collection.
- Can’t afford a BAYC ape? There’s now a solution. Kucoin introduces Bored Ape Yacht Club fractionalized NFTs with a limited supply of 2 million hiBAYC ERC-20 tokens. Current value: 1 hiBAYC = 0.13 USDT.
- Mobile software developer, GetFit, announces plans to release a Move-to-Earn gaming platform and token via Binance Smart Chain (BSC).
Banter’s take
Folks, we likely just experienced what’s called a relief rally. Please don’t mistake it for a bull run. These rallies tend to trap the over-enthusiastic traders during bear markets.
What causes relief rallies?
Relief rallies are typically brought forth by positive news or updates, such as the release of economic or company data that comes in better than expected. Then, an air of excitement begins to brew. In the case of crypto, it was the soft announcement of the Ethereum Merge.
When short-sellers hear these announcements, they tend to cover SHORT positions, the equivalent of taking a LONG position. Add a few more eager buyers, and you have the basic recipe for a relief rally.
In truth, relief rallies are a great indicator of a bear market. Until macro begins to improve, Dollar-Cost-Averaging (DCA) can quench the urge to FOMO. There’s nothing worse than thinking you bought the bottom only to find prices were only halfway there. Patience is key!
Gabri
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Disclaimer
Good Morning crypto (issued by Crypto Banter) is a newsletter for entertainment purposes only.
All opinions expressed by the publisher, writers, and chartists should not be construed as financial advice and do not necessarily reflect the views of Crypto Banter. The publisher, writers, and chartists may hold positions in the tokens and assets discussed. Readers are encouraged to do their own research.
