What a difference can a week make!... Bitcoin crosses $30K as Institutional Players drive Crypto market optimism. After a challenging period driving the market down to a capitalization of $1.07T, the cryptocurrency market is experiencing a resurgence at $1.23T. However, market sentiment was impacted by the SEC's charges against major exchanges Binance and Coinbase for selling unregistered securities. Nevertheless, newfound optimism stems from institutional players entering the scene, with BlackRock, Invesco, WisdomTree, Citadel, and Valkyrie Digital Assets all filing for spot Bitcoin ETFs with the SEC. Deutsche Bank also applied for an asset custody license, while other German investment avenues like Boerse Stuttgart, Finoa, and Bitpanda remain active. These institutional developments are expected to have a significant impact on the market and attract more prominent players to the space.
Crédit Patate
After Société Générale and its subsidiary Forge, it is now the turn of Crédit Agricole with Caceis, but only for custody.
The AMF college has approved the registration request of CACEIS Bank, a bank owned by the CACEIS group in France, as a Provider of Services for Digital Assets (PSAN). This registration will allow CACEIS Bank to offer a new service for the custody of digital assets on behalf of third parties, in response to the growing demand from asset management companies and institutional investors in this field. It is the first French bank specialized in the custody of financial assets to obtain this registration, which enhances CACEIS's credibility in the digital asset ecosystem. The offered service will involve the custody of clients' private keys using an advanced technical solution, possibly through its newly announced partner, Taurus.
Bottom of the class
The entire crypto market, all sectors combined, is now in the green YTD. Except… NFTs. In effect, the NFT Index remains down 10.9% since the start of the year. The index is calculated on the 10 largest collections in terms of capitalization and volume.
A BAYC is “only” worth 38 ETH, this is the lowest level since November 2021. The players want to give a second wind by launching new collections around games, new stories, but the market is no longer so fond of “speculative” NFTs
Moreover, The GameFi era, dominated by play-to-earn gaming and the promise of earning a regular income stream, is coming to an end. No winner.
MAS Emphasizes Interoperability in Digital Asset Networks
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has released a paper emphasizing the need for interoperability in digital asset networks. MAS's Project Guardian aims to test digital asset and DeFi applications, focusing on interoperable networks, asset tokenization, institutional-grade DeFi protocols, and trust anchors. The paper explores three models: private and permissioned, permissionless, and public and permissioned. It highlights the importance of market participant needs, financial integrity, and stability. It discusses verifiable credentials, the role of financial institutions as trust anchors, and the balance between privacy and public networks. The paper calls for international coordination among regulators to achieve common regulatory outcomes and reduce cross-border frictions. MAS collaborated with the Bank of Italy, South Korea, and the International Monetary Fund on a paper about digital money, and it approved Ripple's payment services.
Sources : Caceis, Blockworks, Coingecko
