Markets
OKX and seven other exchanges just said goodbye to Hong Kong: Here’s what it means for its crypto scene – DL News
- The abrupt start to Hong Kong trading highlights the difficulties involved in obtaining a license.
- The development raises new questions about the city’s plan to become a crypto hub.
- But the exodus could be good news.
A couple of days after arriving in Hong Kong last June, I attended my first crypto event. It didn’t disappoint.
The party organized by OKX and the Hong Kong fan club of Manchester City, the top English football club and corporate partner of the cryptocurrency exchange, was very lively.
The room was packed with people in light blue Erling Haaland T-shirts hovering over free food and drinks and half-listening to presentations from OKX executives.
OKX was clearly eyeing a bright future in the rejuvenated Hong Kong market as it prepared to apply for a license for its virtual asset trading platform.
Not long after the party, OKX CEO Lennix Lai told me how excited he was to consolidate the company in the city where it maintained its base of operations.
Then last week, OKX suddenly withdrew its license application from the Securities and Futures Commission.
Careful evaluation
The reason was “careful consideration” of its trading strategy, while assuring users in Hong Kong that their funds were safe. It will cease trading services by Friday.
At first glance, OKX’s departure would appear to be a major blow to Hong Kong’s aspirations to become Asia’s go-to crypto hub.
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With a daily trading volume of $3 billion, the centralized exchange is the fourth place platform worldwide, according to CoinMarketCap.
Additionally, OKX is just one of seven companies that withdrew their license applications after the deadline passed at the end of February.
Like OKX, all these companies – and any others serving Hong Kong customers who have not applied for a license – will have to close their services to the city’s residents by May 31.
In addition to OKX, branches of other international stock exchanges have also withdrawn from Hong Kong in recent weeks Gate.io and HTX, formerly known as Huobi.
HKVAEX, which the SCMP reported in October last year it was backed by Binance, also withdrawing its application.
Invest heavily
However, the departure of these firms could signal progress in regulators’ efforts to clean up Hong Kong’s freewheeling crypto scene.
Lai told me last year that getting licensed was not an easy process.
Finding qualified people to conduct the required audits may be difficult.
OKX has also had to invest heavily in talent hiring, innovation, technology, compliance and system security to prepare for demand. (A relationship from CoinDesk estimated the cost of applying for a license to be between $12 million and $20 million.)
The fact is that getting a license should be difficult. That’s the point. given that level of fraud In Hong Kong’s cryptocurrency markets, the SFC wants cryptocurrency exchanges to abide by strict rules.
The number of companies withdrawing applications is not necessarily unusual.
When Singapore introduced licensing for cryptocurrency service providers in January 2021, over 100 of the 170 applicants they withdrew or were rejected by the end of the year, second Nikkei Asia.
Even in the United Kingdom, 71% of applications submitted to the Financial Conduct Authority were withdrawn.
Angela Ang, senior policy advisor at TRM Labs, said this DL News it seems that the trend in Hong Kong is the norm.
“This could be a combination of higher regulatory expectations following events like FTX, and the fact that the cryptocurrency industry is relatively new to regulation,” he said.
Time and money
However, licensing applications are not a trivial undertaking and require a significant amount of time and money.
“No one is going to retire lightly after investing all that time and resources,” Ang added. “Those who withdrew probably did so only after it was clear that their request would otherwise be rejected.”
The timing of the withdrawals just before the closing date may also be an effort by the SFC to weed out those who fail to reach the presumptive agreement that will allow them to continue operating after June 1.
“It sends a very clear signal about the kind of crypto hub Hong Kong wants to be: tough,” Ang said.
Callan Quinn is DL News’ Asian correspondent based in Hong Kong. Contact us at callan@dlnews.com.
Markets
Bitcoin, Ethereum See Red as Markets Crash on Volatility
Bitcoin AND Etherealalong with the rest of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, appear to be in hibernation on Thursday morning.
At the time of writing, the Bitcoin Price is still below $65,000 and 2.2% lower than it was this time yesterday, according to CoinGecko data. Things are worse for the Ethereum Pricewhich is 3.7% lower than 24 hours ago at $3,185.22. The drop in ETH’s price is identical to that of Lido Staked Ethereum (stETH), a liquid staking token for Ethereum.
In recent days, falling prices have led to the liquidation of derivative contracts worth $225 million, according to Coin glassAnd about half of that, about $100 million, was liquidated in the last 12 hours.
When a trader is liquidated, it means that their position in the market has been forcibly closed by an exchange or brokerage due to a margin call or insufficient collateral. Margin is especially important when it comes to leveraged positions, which allow traders to control a multiple of their deposit, such as opening a $10,000 position with only $1,000 in their account.
Now that Bitcoin has been in the red for three days in a row, there is a chance that the world’s oldest and largest cryptocurrency could sink even further, BRN analyst Valentin Fournier said in a note shared with Decrypt.
“Bitcoin has closed in the red for three days in a row, with one-way trading showing limited resistance from bulls. Ethereum had a slightly positive Monday with strong resistance from bears who have won the last two days,” he wrote. “This momentum could take BTC to the $62,500 resistance or even the $58,000 territories.”
Looking ahead, Fournier said BRN’s strategy will be to “reduce exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum and find a better entry point after the dip.”
This is despite Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments yesterday on interest rates being widely regarded as accommodating and indicative of FOMC rate cuts in September.
Singapore-based cryptocurrency trading firm QCP Capital said the rally in stocks, which sent the S&P 500 up 1.6% from Wednesday’s close, was not felt in cryptocurrency markets.
“Cryptocurrencies have seen a broad sell-off overnight and into this morning,” the firm wrote in a trading note. “The market remains poised as traders pay close attention to daily ETH ETF outflows and further supply pressure from Mt Gox and the US government.”
Meanwhile, the other top-ranking coins are showing mixed performance.
Solana (SOL) is down 7.2% since yesterday to $169.13. Things are even worse for its most popular meme coins. In the past 24 hours, the most popular meme coins Dogwifhat (WIF) are down 12% and BONK (BONK) is down 9%, according to CoinGecko data.
Their dog-themed competitor, Ethereum OG Dogecoin (DOGE), the only meme coin in Coingecko’s top 10, is down nearly 4% since yesterday and is currently trading at $0.1205.
XRP (XRP) dropped to $0.608, which is 7% lower than it was at this time yesterday.
Binance’s BNB Coin (BNB) has kept pace with BTC and is currently trading at $571, down 2.4% from yesterday. Toncoin (TON), the native token of The Open Network, is down just 0.4% over the past day.
This leaves the stablecoins USDC (USDC) and Tether (USDT), both of which are stable as they maintain their 1:1 ratio with the US dollar.
Markets
XRP Market Activity Drops During Ripple-SEC Talks: Price Steady
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will hold another closed-door meeting with Ripple on Thursday, as the market hopes for a possible resolution to the legal battle between the two entities.
However, the cryptocurrency market remains relatively bearish, with the price and trading volume of XRP down in the last 24 hours.
Ripple holders take no risk
At press time, XRP is trading at $0.60. The altcoin’s price has dropped 6% over the past 24 hours. During that time, trading volume was $27 million, down 27%.
The SEC met before with the digital payment company on July 25. While the outcome of that meeting remains unknown, the Sunshine Act Notice for Thursday’s meeting includes one additional topic of discussion from the July 25 closed meeting: the instituting and resolving injunctive relief. That has market participants speculating whether a settlement is imminent.
In an exclusive interview with BeinCrypto, Ryan Lee, Lead Analyst at Bitget Research, noted that:
“This meeting will discuss possible resolution options for the Ripple Lawsuit. The founder of Ripple Labs said that a legal settlement could be announced soon. If an official settlement plan is released, it could positively impact XRP’s price movement.”
However, an assessment of XRP’s price movements on a 4-hour chart shows a spike in bearish bias as the market awaits the outcome of this crucial meeting. Its Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD) indicator readings show that its MACD line (blue) has crossed below its signal line (orange).
XRP 4 Hours Analysis. Source: Trading View
Traders use this indicator to gauge price trends, momentum, and potential buying and selling opportunities in the market. When an asset’s MACD is set this way, it is a bearish signal that suggests selling activity is outweighing buying momentum.
Additionally, the altcoin relative strength index (RSI), at 46.08, is currently below its neutral 50 line and in a downtrend. This indicator measures overbought and oversold market conditions for an asset.
To know more: How to Buy XRP and Everything You Need to Know
XRP 4 Hours Analysis. Source: Trading View
At 43.83 at the time of writing, XRP’s RSI suggests a growing preference among the market participants for tokin distribution.
XRP Price Prediction: Derivatives Traders Exit Market
The XRP derivatives market has also seen a decline in trading activity over the past 24 hours. According to Coinglass, derivatives trading volume has plummeted 18% and open interest has dropped 10% during that period.
Open interest refers to the total number of outstanding derivative contracts, such as options or futurethat have not yet been resolved. When it drops, traders close their positions without opening new ones. This is a bearish signal that reflects a lack of confidence in any potential positive price movement.
According to Lee, the outcome of the meeting with the SEC “would have a significant impact on the price movement of the token.” If the outcome is favorable, the price of the token could rise towards $0.75 in August.
To know more: Ripple (XRP) Price Prediction 2024/2025/2030
XRP 4 Hours Analysis. Source: Trading View
On the other hand, if no favorable resolutions are reached, the price could plummet to $0.50.
Disclaimer
In line with the Trust Project guidelines, this price analysis article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial or investment advice. BeInCrypto strives to provide accurate and unbiased reporting, but market conditions are subject to change without notice. Always conduct your own research and consult a professional before making any financial decisions. Please note that our Terms and conditions, Privacy PolicyAND Disclaimers They have been updated.
Markets
Bitcoin’s Dominance Hits Three-Year High, But Analysts Say Altcoins Are Ready to Rebound
Bitcoin is now the dominant force in the cryptocurrency market, surpassing 53% of the total cryptocurrency market, a stronger share than it has been in the past three years.
Bitcoin’s market cap now stands at $1.27 trillion, second according to CoinGecko data. In contrast, the total cryptocurrency market cap is $2.43 trillion, with Ethereum occupying 15.9% of the market, worth $389 billion.
Bitcoin’s rise to dominance this year is unusual, as altcoins typically do better than Bitcoin in a bull market. While meme coins made a strong comeback during Bitcoin’s rally to all-time highs earlier this year, the so-called “wealth effect” It has not been appreciated as much by mid-range coins, such as Ethereum and Cardano.
“ETF flows fundamentally alter market dynamics,” he wrote Meltem Demirors, former chief strategy officer at CoinShares, tweeted Wednesday: “BTC gains no longer translate to alts and the longer tail of crypto.”
Bitcoin’s takeover has continued even as the market cap of Tether (USDT) continues to grow, the world’s largest stablecoin and the third-largest cryptocurrency after BTC and ETH. Stablecoins are backed by fiat currencies and are excluded from some measures of Bitcoin dominance due to fundamentally different value models.
The surge continued to pace even after the launch of Ethereum spot ETFs last week, which ironically culminated in a news sell-off event, and net outflows from new investment products since they were launched. This went against the predictions of K33 Search so far, which predicted that ETFs would catalyze ETH’s growth over the next five months.
Despite the poorer performance of the alts, there is reason to believe that they are ready to bounce back very soon.
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju said Tuesday that whales are “preparing for the next altcoin rally,” as limit buy orders for assets other than BTC and ETH are on the rise.
The executive shared a chart showing how the “cumulative difference between purchase volume and sales volume” has increased in recent months.
“The indicator measures the difference between buy and sell orders over a year,” CryptoQuant told Decrypt. A buy/sell order is a pre-set request to buy or sell a cryptocurrency if it hits a certain price level, which creates resistance and support levels.
“If the trend is up, it means that more people are placing buy orders, showing strong interest in buying,” CryptoQuant said.
By Ryan-Ozawa.
Markets
XRP and SOL Retrace as BTC Price Drops to 2-Week Lows (Market Watch)
After Monday’s crash, in which BTC fell by several thousand dollars, the scenario has repeated itself once again in the last 12 hours, with the asset falling to a 2-week low of $63,300.
Alt coins followed suit, with most of the market in the red today. SOL and XRP lead the way from the higher cap alts.
BTC Drops To $63.3K
After a violent Thursday last week, when BTC crashed to $63,400, the asset went on the offensive over the weekend and surged above $69,000 on Saturday, as the community prepared for Donald Trump’s appearance at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in Nashville.
His speech was followed by more volatility before the cryptocurrency settled around $67,500 on Sunday. Monday started off rather optimistically for the bulls as bitcoin hit a 7-week high of $70,000.
However, he failed to maintain his run and conquer that level decisively. On the contrary, he was rejected bad and dropped to $66,400 by the end of Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday were less eventful as BTC remained still around $66,500.
The last 12 hours or so have brought another crash. Bears have pushed the leading digital asset down hard, which has fallen to a 2-week low of $63,300 (on Bitstamp), leaving over $200 million in liquidations.
Despite the current rebound to $64,500, BTC’s market cap has fallen to $1.270 trillion, but its dominance over alts is recovering and has reached 52.6%.
Bitcoin/Price/Chart 01.08.2024. Source: TradingView
The Alts are back in red
Ripple’s native token has been at the forefront of the market challenge in recent days as pumped up to a multi-month high of over $0.66. However, its run was also interrupted and XPR fell by more than 6% in the last day to $0.6.
The other big loser among the larger-cap alternatives is SOL, which has lost 8% of its value and is now struggling to get below $170.
The rest of this altcoin cohort is also in the red, with ETH, DOGE, BNB, AVAX, ADA, SHIB, and LINK all seeing drops between 2 and 5%.
The total cryptocurrency market cap lost another $70 billion overnight, falling below $2.4 trillion today on CG.
Cryptocurrency Market Overview. Source: QuantifyCrypto SPECIAL OFFER (sponsored)
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