Bitcoin Surpasses $19,000, Blockchain.com Cuts Jobs, Sam Bankman-Fried Blogs

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Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced former chief of FTX, denied hiding billions of dollars and offered his thoughts on what happened to his bankrupt crypto exchange in a lengthy new post on Substack published on Thursday.

This article originally appeared on Crypto Markets Today, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter diving into what’s been happening in today’s crypto markets. Subscribe to receive it in your inbox every day.

He denied stealing funds and claimed that FTX and sister company Alameda Research collapsed due to the crypto market crash and inadequate coverage from Alamedas.

I didn’t steal funds, and I certainly didn’t hide billions, Bankman-Fried wrote. Later in the message, he concluded that Alameda had lost money due to a stock market crash for which he was not sufficiently hedged.

While alleging the trading company “hasn’t sufficiently hedged its market exposure”, he also said he “hasn’t run Alameda for the past few years”.

Bankman-Fried faces numerous federal charges, including conspiracy to commit fraud, and is now out on bail at his parents’ home in California. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, but his lieutenant and Alameda chief, Caroline Ellison, pleaded guilty to the fraud charges and is now cooperating with an investigation with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

While blaming FTX’s downfall on Alameda’s poor coverage, Bankman-Fried notably did not address the $65 billion line of credit he opened from the exchange to the trading arm, as a court hearing revealed on Wednesday. At the hearing, an attorney representing FTX in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding said the line of credit resulted in a “value deficiency” in repaying customers and creditors.

(CoinDesk and highcharts.com)

Bitcoin (BTC): The largest cryptocurrency by market value briefly rose above $19,000 on Thursday, rising 8% for the day and hitting its highest level since the FTX crash-induced sharp market decline in early November. Crypto-related stocks even made bigger gains as the sector’s recovery continued. BTC slid earlier in the day after the latest US Consumer Price Index (CPI) report showed inflation slowed last month before seeing a rapid increase in trading hours in the US. afternoon (ET). It had returned to $18,800 at press time.

Stocks closed higher on Thursday after positive inflation data: the Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) both rose 0.6%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.3% .

Ether (ETH): The second-largest cryptocurrency recently followed BTC’s lead, rising 6% for the day to trade around $1,427 at press time. As the next Ethereums Shanghai upgrade approaches in the spring, data from Etherscan shows that more than 16 million ETH has been deposited in the Ethereums Beacon Chain staking contract as of Thursday, this which is over $22 billion at current prices.

CoinDesk Market Index (CMI)

911.03

+54.7 6.4%

Bitcoin (BTC)

$18,832

+1304.2 7.4%

Ethereum (ETH)

$1,424

+82.2 6.1%

S&P 500 daily close

3,983.17

+13.6 0.3%

Gold

$1,900

+25.6 1.4%

10-year Treasury yield

3.45%

0.1

BTC/ETH Price by CoinDesk Indices; gold is the COMEX spot price. Prices from around 4 p.m. ET

Crypto Market Analysis: Inflation Is Cooling, But Fed Pivot Hopes May Be Too Hot

By Glenn Williams Jr.

Both bitcoin and ether responded positively to the December inflation data release, with prices fluctuating throughout the day.

The hourly chart of BTC shows a sharp increase in trading volume during the hour of the announcement. Most telling of this hour of trading is the momentary drop in prices, implying that some traders viewed the inflation data as an opportunity to take profits. The hourly chart of ETH shows almost identical price behavior, with a slight increase when the report is released, followed by a price decline in the following hour.

The odds of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates by 25 basis points in February have risen to 96% from 77% the previous day. Verbally, this could be categorized as going from very likely to very, very likely. Traders are reducing their bets on a more aggressive 50 basis point rise.

But the fed funds futures curve implies that interest rates will rise to nearly 5% before pivoting down in the second or third quarter of 2023. This remains largely unchanged, a sign that even if the Fed could slow the pace of increases, it will stay up. fashion for quite a while.

Bitcoin 01/12/23 (TradingView)

Read the full technical take here.

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