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REUTERS/Dado RuvicLONDON, April 19 (Reuters) - Crypto firms have been left scrambling to find banking partners after the collapse of three crypto-friendly lenders in the U.S. last month, creating a risk their business will become concentrated in smaller financial institutions. Mainstream banks have become increasingly wary of crypto clients following a series of high-profile collapses, including the bankruptcy of major exchange FTX in November last year, and a lack of regulation. "Crypto and Web3 start-ups are telling us they simply cannot get a business bank account," said Marcus Foster, head of crypto policy at Coadec, a body representing UK start-ups. A spokesperson for ING said the bank does not "target or focus actively on crypto firms" so its exposure is "very limited." But for smaller crypto start-ups, securing a banking partner could be more difficult, said Ricardo Mico, the U.S. CEO of Banxa (BNXA.V), a payment and compliance infrastructure provider for crypto.

Bitcoin peaked at $30,438 in Asian trade and was last up 1.4% at $30,070. It has gained nearly 6% since the start of the month, after rising 23% in March. This brings digital asset flows back into positive territory for the year, the report showed. "If (bitcoin) can survive the week over $30,000, we are going higher." While Shapella is not likely to directly drive sell pressure on ether, there could be heightened volatility around the event, Bank of America strategist Alkesh Shah said.

☆ Bitcoin pushes past $30,000 as investors eye end of rate rises
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, April 11 (Reuters) - Major cryptocurrency bitcoin breached the key $30,000 level for the first time in 10 months on Tuesday, adding to its steady gains as investors raised bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve will soon end its aggressive monetary tightening campaign. Bitcoin peaked at $30,438 in Asian trade and was last 2% higher at $30,262. It has gained about 6% since the start of the month, after rising 23% in March. "Bets for a sooner Fed pivot on rate hikes have been dramatically strengthened following the bank turmoil in early March." Reporting by Rae Wee; Editing by Vidya Ranganathan and Jamie FreedOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Dollar pauses after strong gains on hawkish Fed bets; bitcoin hits $30,000
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Kevin Buckland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Leading cryptocurrency bitcoin briefly touched $30,000 for the first time since June. The U.S. dollar index - which measures the greenback against six major counterparts, including the yen - slipped 0.06% in early Asian trading, following a 0.39% advance at the start of the week. The consumer price index (CPI), due on Wednesday, will be the next major clue for Fed policy direction. The dollar index dropped to a two-month low of 101.40 on Wednesday. Bitcoin touched a fresh 10-month high at $30,000 in early Tuesday trade before last fetching $29,787, after breaking free of recent ranges on Monday.

☆ Morning Bid: Glass half full on disinflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Headline March consumer price inflation is expected to drop as low as 5.2% from 6% - showing the disinflation journey from more than 40-year highs of 9.2% last June to the Fed's 2% target more than half way there. The rider is that headline inflation rates are expected be below stickier annual 'core' rates, which are forecast to have ticked higher to 5.6% last month. The International Monetary Fund's updated World Economic Outlook is also due on Tuesday ahead of the Fund's Spring meeting in Washington. The disinflation picture was encouraged around the world on Tuesday as Chinese consumer price inflation hit an 18-month low last month and the annual decline in factory prices sped up. Hopes that central bank rates are cresting worldwide lifted risk appetite across the spectrum with major cryptocurrency bitcoin broke back above $30,000 level for the first time in 10 months on Tuesday.

☆ The economy would be better off without bitcoin as it's a 'negative-sum' investment that comes at a social cost, economist says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Bitcoin is a wasteful asset that doesn't add to global welfare, Dieter Wermuth, economist and partner at Wermuth Asset Management, wrote in a recent note. He says the bitcoin market is highly centralized, and primarily benefits early investors and miners. That's because the cryptocurrency is a wasteful investment that takes funds away from general economic growth, Dieter Wermuth — economist and partner at Wermuth Asset Management — wrote in a note published on Wednesday. "Without crypto, the economy would be better off — there would be more money for consumption and investment." "Bitcoin has been brought to market with the narrative that it would be a better, more stable currency than traditional money," Wermuth wrote.

☆ Bitcoin rises to highest level since June 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) - Top cryptocurrency bitcoin hit a nine-month high of $26,533 on Tuesday, in its fourth consecutive day of gains, as it appeared to benefit from chaos in global markets following last week's collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Bitcoin rose to $26,533 at around 1306 GMT, up around 10% on the day at its highest since June 2022. Cryptocurrency prices fell sharply in 2022 as rising rates prompted investors to ditch risky assets. A series of collapses at high-profile crypto firms, including major exchange FTX, left customers with large losses. Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft, editing by Sinead CruiseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/2] A representation of the virtual cryptocurrency Bitcoin is seen in this picture illustration taken October 19, 2021. Crypto payment specialists have also seen strong volumes. Nonetheless, proponents say bitcoin offers lower transaction costs and quicker speeds than traditional cash, especially for cross-border transfers. For others, though, growing interest in CBDCs is evidence that blockchain payments tech is here to stay. Traditional finance firms looking to embrace crypto payments have also shrugged off recent market volatility.

[1/2] Representations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin are seen in this illustration, August 10, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationNEW YORK, Feb 22 (Reuters) - CoinEx was sued on Wednesday by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who accused the cryptocurrency exchange of transacting business without registering with the state. In a complaint filed with a New York state court in Manhattan, James said CoinEx's activities violated the Martin Act, a powerful state law used to fight financial fraud. Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Want to beat the market? Go invest in a secondhand Rolex.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Secondhand watch prices fell 8%, compared with the S&P 500's 19% drop and bitcoin's 65% crash. Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet are seen by watch lovers as the "Big Three" luxury makers, with a 70% market share. But prices for preowned timepieces fell slightly for all those brands in the last quarter of 2022, Morgan Stanley said. Secondhand Rolex prices slipped 5% over that three-month period, led by losses from the popular Daytona, GMT Master II, and Submariner models. "As these three brands account for around 70% of the secondary watch market, their price decline continued to weigh on the overall market."

☆ Take Five: A UK budget and trouble in crypto land
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The long-awaited UK fiscal plan is (almost) here and after the ructions unleashed by September's mini-budget, markets are paying close attention. UK markets have recouped most of the maxi-losses from the mini-budget, but the outlook is grim. Reuters Graphics2/ CRYPTO CHAOSThe crypto world has been thrown into fresh chaos by a meltdown at FTX. Big banks too are starting to pare back staffing levels. September data showed a measure of underlying retail sales rising thanks to strong wage gains and savings, even as the broader number came in flat.

But for the past few months, bitcoin's price has bounced stubbornly around $20,000 in a sign that volatility in the market has settled. Large crypto investors with highly leveraged bets like Three Arrows Capital were floored by the pressure on prices, further accelerating the market's drop. Mastercard announced a service that allows banks to offer crypto trading, having previously launched a new blockchain security tool for card issuers. In a note released Thursday, analysts at the bank said there were parallels with bitcoin's trading in Nov. 2018, when prices steadied for a while before rising steadily. Publicly-traded bitcoin miners sold 12,000 bitcoins in June and only around 3,000 in September, according to Goldman Sachs.

☆ Blockchain.com gets Singapore licence, second crypto firm to obtain approval this week
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Xinghui Kok | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Representations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dash plunge into water in this illustration taken, May 23, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File PhotoSINGAPORE, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Blockchain.com, a cryptocurrency exchange backed by investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, said on Wednesday it had received approval from Singapore's central bank to offer payment services in the city-state. The announcement came a day after crypto giant, Coinbase, said it had also received the same approval. This brings the number of crypto companies allowed to operate in Singapore to 18, out of the roughly 180 firms who have applied for a crypto payments licence since 2020. Blockchain.com, which was valued at $14 billion in March, said in a statement that it views Singapore as an attractive location to grow its institutional customers and team.

The pound fell to a record low against the dollar on Monday, having plunged the previous Friday after the UK government announced unfunded tax cuts . "There is a high correlation to bitcoin volume growth and political/monetary instability," he said. read moreVersus the dollar, bitcoin is down around 58% so far this year, while the British pound is down 20%. Bitcoin was trading around $19,515 on Wednesday and at 17,940 versus the British pound . The cryptocurrency hit a two-week high against the British pound on Tuesday.

☆ Bitcoin bounces above $20,000 for first time in about a week
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterRepresentations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin are seen in this illustration, August 10, 2022. REUTERS/Dado RuvicSYDNEY, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Bitcoin broke above $20,000 on Tuesday for the first time in about a week, as cryptocurrencies bounced, along with other risk-sensitive assets, in Asian trade. The biggest cryptocurrency by market value, bitcoin , was up more than 5% at $20,286. In the broader market the dollar eased slightly after soaring to fresh heights on Monday. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Clarence FernandezOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Bitcoin mining struggles to go green, research shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Tom Wilson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Edgar SuLONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Bitcoin is struggling to go green, with the cryptocurrency making only slim gains in its usage of sustainable energy in the year to January, research by Cambridge university showed on Tuesday. Processing bitcoin transactions and "mining" new tokens is done by powerful computers, hooked up to a global network, that compete against others to solve complex mathematical puzzles. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterProjects have sought ways to shift bitcoin mining towards cleaner energy, such as repurposing heat byproducts from oil extraction for crypto mining. Bitcoin mining is mostly unregulated and opaque, with few centralised bodies gathering data. The Cambridge study was based on data on the geographical spread of mining across the world and the energy mix of individual countries.

Institutional crypto lending involves lending cryptocurrencies as well as cash in return for a yield. Unsecured lending has become common across the crypto industry, according to the review of filings and the interviews. Crypto research firm Arkham Intelligence put the figure in the region of $10 billion, for instance, while crypto lender TrueFi said at least $25 billion. BULLISH ON BORROWINGWhile Blockchain.com has largely pulled back from unsecured lending, many crypto lenders remain confident about the practice. Sid Powell, co-founder and CEO of unsecured crypto lending platform Maple, said institutional crypto lenders were more cautious after Three Arrows' insolvency, but conditions have since normalized and lenders are now again comfortable lending unsecured.

☆ Bitcoin once again slips below $20,000
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterA representation of the virtual cryptocurrency Bitcoin is seen in this picture illustration taken October 18, 2021. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File PhotoSept 18 (Reuters) - Bitcoin on Sunday dropped 1.54% to $19,804, slipping from the 20,000 mark after losing $310 from its previous close. The world's biggest and best-known cryptocurrency is down 58.9% from the year's high of $48,234 on March 28. Ether , the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain network, dropped 3.2 % to $1,422.1 on Sunday, losing $47 from its previous close. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Rachna Dhanrajani in Bengaluru, Editing by William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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