Cryptocurrency Market News: Bitcoin Rises Again, New Stablecoins On The Block

Bitcoin (btc) shook off last week's jitters and briefly traded above $72,000 on Monday, an indication that the rally is far from stalling ahead of its fourth halving later this month.

Stablecoins were in the spotlight last week as VanEck and Ripple Labs got involved in new offerings. Additionally, a New York jury found Terraform Labs and its founder, Do Kwon, liable on civil fraud charges.

Bitcoin rises again and closes the gap with a high of $73,000

What a wild ride it has been for bitcoin investors. After surpassing an all-time high of more than $73,000, the cryptocurrency fell to trading near $60,000 in the last month.

Bitcoin is currently trading at the levels it saw early last week, but had to find its way back after falling sharply to trade below $65,000 before gaining ground and ending last week in the green.

Although spot bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETF) saw strong outflows of $85.7 million on the first day of the month, largely due to more than $300 million in outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC)—flows increased in reverse to end the week with $484.5 million in net inflows, according to Farside Investors.

The recent rise in bitcoin price is as follows reduce by half The event is expected to occur in less than two weeks. In particular, several recent reports indicated Any potential effect of the halving on the price of bitcoin could be overshadowed by the supply and demand dynamics of spot bitcoin ETFs.

Furthermore, Tether (U.S.T.), which is the issuer of the world's largest and most popular stablecoin, added 8,888 bitcoins (currently worth around $640 million) to its reserves during the first quarter of the year. The company's bitcoin address is now the seventh largest on the network in terms of holdings, with more than $5 billion worth of bitcoins in it, according to The block.

VanEck and Ripple participate in new stablecoin offerings

Speaking of stablecoinsThere may be some new deals on the block soon.

Fintech company Agora raised $12 million ahead of the launch of its Agora digital dollar (AUSD) stablecoin offering, which will have backup reserves managed by VanEck. While VanEck already operates a bitcoin ETF: VanEck Bitcoin Trust (hodl)—this new offer expands its commitment to cryptocurrencies. For Agora, the product leverages VanEck's investment experience as well as family ties. Agora founder Nick van Eck is the son of VanEck CEO Jan van Eck.

Ripple Labs, the company behind the XRP token (XRPUSD), also Announced its foray into the stablecoin market with a US dollar-backed digital currency aimed at improving the synergy between cryptocurrencies and conventional financial systems. This initiative is designed to inject more liquidity and encourage greater adoption of the XRP Ledger, especially when it comes to decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. Ripple's stablecoin offering will be backed by assets such as US dollar reserves and short-term Treasury bills, and will also be available on Ethereum at launch.

Do Kwon and Terraform Labs found responsible for fraud

It took a New York jury approximately two hours to decide that Terraform Labs and its founder, Do Kwon, were responsible for defrauding investors in a civil lawsuit filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The SEC alleged that the company and Kwon had provided misleading assurances about the reliability of their algorithmic stablecoin UST, which was fundamental for the Land Dramatic ecosystem collapse worth $40 billion in May 2022.

He The SEC Litigation noted that Terraform Labs and Kwon had painted an overly optimistic picture of the UST stability mechanism and the Terra blockchain's functionalities to investors, especially its price stability, which was artificially propped up by an anonymous US-based trading company. US on at least one occasion.

This is the second major outcome of cryptocurrency fraud-related litigation in recent weeks. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who was also a favorite of the previous cryptocurrency market bubble, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on criminal charges related to fraud on March 28.

What to expect in the markets this week

Precedents suggest an increase in bitcoin prices after the halving, but that is no guarantee of performance this time. However, one thing is certain. Investors should buckle up and prepare for volatility in the near term, even if profit opportunities could emerge over time.

Investors use implied volatility to gauge market sentiment around prices in the future. For bitcoin options contracts with different expiration dates, that measure spiked over the past weekend, reversing course from the beginning of the previous week, according to Kaiko research.

Implied volatility for "expirations in the next two weeks has increased further, from 59% to 71% in the span of just two days. This suggests that near-term volatility expectations are rising," Kaiko analysts wrote in a note on Monday. , blaming the uncertainty on demand for bitcoin ETFs.

Crypto market analysts will closely monitor bitcoin spot ETF inflows this week as GBTC outflows are expected to slow due to selling related to the Genesis bankruptcy process coming to a close, according to Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart. March was by far the strongest month on record in terms of bitcoin ETF spot inflows, and the first week of April gave no indication that inflows will stop anytime soon, according to another Bloomberg ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas.

Another potential effect on the market this week will be the more than $2 billion worth of bitcoin linked to an attack on the long-defunct Silk Road darknet market that was sent to Coinbase (CURRENCY) by the US government. It's unclear what is happening with these funds, but they may put downward pressure on prices if the coins are sold.

Price action is also likely to pick up around the upcoming halving; However, it is unclear if it could end up being a "sell the news"Situation immediately after the event.