Bitcoin
Mt. Gox Refunds Worse BTC Problems
Bearish sentiment became more pronounced in the crypto market on Monday morning after defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, which was supposed to return more than 140,000 BTC to victims of a 2014 hack, said it will begin payments next month. Bitcoin slipped to $60,723, recording a loss of more than 5% in 24 hours at one point. Ether and the broader market followed suit, with the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) also falling more than 5%. Broadly speaking, bitcoin’s recent pullback above $70,000 has taken the form of a double top bearish reversal pattern. However, spot and futures volumes in the bitcoin and ether markets on centralized exchanges have been considerably weaker than March’s record highs, according to FalconX. This is a sign of decreasing investor participation or conviction in selling stocks, often a characteristic of a “bear trap.”
Ether traders are snapping up bullish options on Deribit in a falling market. According to Amberdata, they have been buying the September $4,000 Ether call option in large numbers, anticipating a move to new record highs. “Looking at the block flows this week, we see a ton of buying activity for the September $4,000 calls,” said Greg Magadini, director of derivatives at Amberdata, adding that it is a sign of traders betting that “ If ETH stays above $4,000 we will likely test and reach new all-time highs.”
Japanese institutional investors are warming up to digital assets, according to Nomura Research of 547 Japanese investment managers. The April survey showed that more than 50% of managers planned to invest in crypto over the next three years, seeing it as a diversification opportunity. Managers could allocate between 2% and 5% of assets under management to crypto, the research revealed, adding that almost 80% would invest over the course of a year. The move to crypto follows growing concerns about Japan’s debt burden and yen exchange rate volatility. Metaplanet listed in Tokyo recently BTC adopted as a reserve asset to protect against Japan’s fiscal problems. On Monday, the company said would purchase another $6.2 million in BTC using proceeds from the debt sale.