“On Friday morning in Asia, Bitcoin saw an increase in its trading value, surpassing $26,500, while Ether also experienced an upward movement, reaching over $1,600. In addition, all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies demonstrated gains, with Tron network’s TRX token leading the way with a 24-hour increase of over 3%. These price surges coincided with an announcement from Deutsche Bank, the largest German lender, stating its intention to offer cryptocurrency custody services. Additionally, U.S. stock futures exhibited a slight rise following a positive close on Wall Street on Wednesday, driven by robust economic data from the United States.”
“Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin has seen a 1.49% increase, reaching $26,610.48 as of 07:30 a.m. in Hong Kong. It has also experienced a weekly rise of 1.60%, according to data from CoinMarketCap. On Thursday evening, the world’s largest cryptocurrency surged to $26,774.62, marking its highest price since August 31.
Samer Hasn, a market analyst at the global multi-asset broker XS.com based in Australia, commented that Bitcoin’s recent ascent coincides with a noticeable resurgence in investor sentiment.
Furthermore, as of the end of Wednesday, open interest in Bitcoin derivatives reached approximately $7.525 billion, its highest level since August 31. Similar patterns were observed in Ether, with open positions reaching around $3.7 billion. These statistics are derived from data provided by the blockchain intelligence platform CryptoQuant, as noted by Hasn.”
“Ether made a 1.38% gain, reaching a trading price of $1,629.33, yet it remained down by 0.95% over the past week.
The cryptocurrency market received a significant boost from the announcement that Deutsche Bank, a German financial institution with $1.4 trillion in total assets at the close of 2022, would be launching cryptocurrency and tokenized asset custody services for institutional clients. This move is part of a partnership with Swiss fintech firm Taurus, as outlined in a press release on Thursday.
Paul Maley, Global Head of Securities Services at Deutsche Bank, stated in the announcement, ‘As the digital asset space is expected to encompass trillions of dollars of assets, it’s bound to be seen as one of the priorities for investors and corporations alike. As such, custodians must start adapting to support their clients.’
John Stefanidis, CEO and Co-founder of Balthazar DAO, a blockchain infrastructure decentralized organization, commented, ‘Deutsche Bank’s recent announcement to offer crypto custody services is a positive step towards a growing acceptance and development of crypto in the mainstream financial sector. It could also potentially instill a renewed sense of confidence among investors.'”
“All other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies recorded gains in the past 24 hours, with Tron’s TRX leading the pack, surging by 3.46% to reach $0.08388 and posting a weekly gain of 6.15%.
This positive sentiment unfolded amidst ongoing regulatory battles in the United States. Earlier this week, the SEC charged Stone Cats 2, the company responsible for the ‘Stoner Cats’ animated series, with conducting an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In July 2021, Stone Cats 2 had sold 10,000 NFTs at a price of $800 each to finance the ‘Stoner Cats’ series. The company has now agreed to a cease-and-desist order and will pay a civil penalty of $1 million.
The total cryptocurrency market capitalization increased by 1.27% over the past 24 hours, reaching $1.06 trillion, while trading volume saw a 3.00% uptick, reaching $28.28 billion.”
U.S. Stock Market Gains Momentum on the Back of Robust Economic Data
“U.S. stock futures displayed upward movement as of 09:10 a.m. in Hong Kong, following a positive performance on Wall Street the previous day, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average leading the way with a 0.96% increase.
Most major stock indices in Asia also experienced gains during Wednesday morning trading. The Shanghai Composite in China, Hang Seng in Hong Kong, Kospi in South Korea, and Nikkei 225 in Japan all recorded increases, with the Nikkei 225 leading the pack with a 0.87% rise.
Wall Street’s rally on Thursday was driven by robust economic data from the United States. Retail sales in the country for August rose by 0.6% month-on-month, surpassing analysts’ expectations of 0.2%.
However, it’s worth noting that the unexpected growth in retail sales was primarily attributed to a surge in oil prices, as receipts at gasoline stations saw a 5.2% month-on-month increase. Excluding gasoline, retail sales in August only edged up by 0.2%, indicating a slowdown from July’s 0.5% growth and marking one of the weakest readings this year, according to Bloomberg.
While the 0.2% increase was higher than the median forecast of a 0.1% drop, it also suggests a deceleration in the U.S. economy.
“Consumption has been more resilient than anticipated so far this year, but the case for a slowdown is building,” noted Michael Pearce, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics.
In addition to retail sales data, the U.S. producer price index (PPI) also reported a larger-than-expected monthly growth of 0.7%, driven by a 20% increase in gasoline costs. Meanwhile, the number of initial jobless claims in the U.S. rose to 220,000 for the week ending September 9, although this figure was lower than analysts’ expectations of 225,000, according to Reuters.
Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at U.S.-based financial markets research firm FWDBOND, indicated that there is nothing in the recent reports to prompt a response from the Federal Reserve in terms of interest rates. The CME FedWatch Tool predicts a 96% chance that the central bank will maintain the current rate unchanged in its meeting on September 20, which falls within the range of 5.25% to 5.50%. It also indicates a 63% chance of another pause in November, up from 58.4% on Thursday.
Investors are now eagerly awaiting a slew of economic data from China on Friday, including house prices, fixed asset investment, retail sales, industrial production, and unemployment. Analysts anticipate an acceleration in retail sales and industrial production growth in China for August, but also expect a slowdown in fixed asset investment growth, according to Reuters.”