Market Overview (Apr 15 – Apr 21): Bitcoin Halving, Bitcoin ETFs, and New Regulations

Key Points

• Hong Kong has approved the trading of Ether and Bitcoin ETFs, indicating a shift toward crypto acceptance.
• The UK and Germany are further integrating crypto into their economies through new laws and services.
• Significant fluctuations in Bitcoin’s price were observed last week, rebounding after the Havling event.

Explore key global crypto changes: Bitcoin ETFs in Hong Kong, new UK crypto regulations, and Binance’s asset transfer strategy.

Last week’s highlights big news (Apr 15 – Apr 21)

Hong Kong, for instance, has approved the trading of Ether and bitcoin ETFs, with key players including China Asset Management, Harvest Global, Bosera, and Hashkey. Notably, China Asset Management and Bosera indicate a significant shift towards crypto acceptance in the financial sector.

In Europe, the UK’s Economy Minister has announced forthcoming laws for stablecoins, staking, trading, and custodial services for cryptocurrency. These new regulations, set to be issued in June or July, mark a substantial step towards integrating crypto in the UK’s economy.

Meanwhile, in Germany, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), the country’s largest state-backed lending company, plans to offer crypto custodial services to its customers through a partnership with the Bitpanda exchange.

Norway, on the other hand, has become the first country in Europe to issue regulations for data centers, clearly intending to control the types of projects that can be deployed. The country has specifically pointed out Bitcoin mining as “an example of the kind of business we don’t want in Norway.”

In Russia, the Central Bank has supported accelerating crypto payments for international transactions, indicating a positive stance towards crypto adoption.

On the American continent, Google has officially opened an office in El Salvador, aligning with President Bukele’s goal of turning the country into a technology hub. Interestingly, while Google has not yet accepted Bitcoin, in El Salvador, the tech giant cannot refuse service fees paid with Bitcoin because it’s considered legal tender.

In the realm of blockchain technology, OKX has announced the launch of the ZK X Layer 2 network mainnet on the mainnet, marking a significant stride in scalability and transaction speed. From a trading perspective, South Korea’s win has surpassed the US dollar and become the most traded currency for crypto in Q1 2024.

Lastly, Bitcoin and Ether ETFs in Hong Kong are set to start trading later this month, with Bloomberg estimating an inflow of $1 billion into these two funds, a significant increase from $500 million just a few days ago.

In a move to enhance stability and reliability, Binance announced a full transfer of the fund’s assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Binance Coin (BNB), Tether (USDT), and TrueUSD (TUSD), to USDC. This aims to maintain a fund value of $1 billion through a transparent and audited type of stablecoin.

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Macroeconomics(Apr 15 – Apr 21)

FED Chairman Powell has expressed a lack of confidence in recent data, suggesting that the current policy will have to hold longer than anticipated. Yet, he believes the policy is equipped to handle existing risks. This implies long-term maintenance of high interest rates without an increase.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has sounded an alarm for the US and China. The two economic powerhouses may encounter vast fiscal deficits, potentially fueling inflation and posing significant risks to the global economy.

The US is projected to experience a fiscal deficit of 7.1% in 2025, while China’s is estimated to reach 7.6%. These figures underline the gravity of the situation and the importance of strategic financial planning.

FED officials are expected to make no statements this week due to their “Blackout” period. The silence precedes their meeting in early May, underscoring the importance of the gathering.

Thursday will have information about US Q1 GDP:

• The estimate is 2.2% | Last month was 3.4%

Friday:

• CPE inflation index: Estimated 2.6% | Last month: 2.5%
• Core CPE: Estimated 2.7% | Last month: 2.8%

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Prediction Market Crypto (Apr 15 – Apr 21)

Last week marked significant fluctuations in $BTC’s price, rebounding after the Havling event on April 20, 2024. The closing price was $64940. With past halvings, a trend of decreasing post-halving was observed, followed by a strong upward wave.

Binance introduced the Megadrop platform, resembling a launchpool where bnb is locked to receive rewards. This new token issuance platform integrates Binance Simple Earn and Binance Web3 wallet, offering early access to selected projects before Binance listing.

Points are earned by locking BNB at Simple Earn and completing tasks. Based on the final score, additional airdrops are a possibility. The formula for total points is (Locked $BNB Points x Web3 Task Coefficient) + Web3 Task Reward.

Bouncebit (BB), a restaking platform on the $BTC network, is the first project introduced on Binance Megadrop. The details surrounding BounceBit Megadrop include a total token supply of 2,100,000,000 BB, with Megadrop token rewards at 168,000,000 BB, which is about 8% of the maximum token supply.

Binance seems to be continuously listing new tokens and launching launchpools this year. This has led to an inflated price for new tokens, indicating a need for a market crash to return to true value and attract fresh capital.

After the successful halving of Bitcoin, Runes Protocol has officially launched its mainnet. There’s speculation about whether Runes Protocol will be the next wave in the Bitcoin ecosystem. My preliminary research suggests high $BTC fees may offer opportunities due to numerous deals.