First Mover Asia: Ethereum Isn’t wETH or stETH, but Jokes Still Move Markets

Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:

Prices: Crypto prices rally late, despite crypto lender BlockFi filing for bankruptcy protection and ongoing protests in China over COVID-19 restrictions.

Insights: What's the price of irreverence on crypto Twitter? A joke about wrapped ether spooked investors.

Prices

CoinDesk Market Index (CMI)

829.27

+5.7▲0.7%

Bitcoin (BTC)

$16,249

+122.8▲0.8%

Ethereum (ETH)

$1,180

+15.3▲1.3%

S&P 500 daily close

3,963.94

−62.2▼1.5%

Gold

$1,744

−9.4▼0.5%

Treasury Yield 10 Years

3.7%

▲0.0

BTC/ETH prices per CoinDesk Indices; gold is COMEX spot price. Prices as of about 4 p.m. ET

Bitcoin Rallies Late Despite BlockFi Bankruptcy Protection Filing, China Protests

By James Rubin

Crypto markets spent much of Monday in the red before a late-day rally sent most major tokens into positive territory, even as the industry continued to process the dual body blows of crypto lender BlockFi's Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing and widespread protests in China over severe COVID-19 restrictions.

Bitcoin was recently trading at about $16,250, up the better part of a percentage point over the previous 24 hours but still below its weekend perch of $16,500. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization's resilience dovetailed with a wider slowdown in asset activity of all stripes as the U.S. celebrated its annual Thanksgiving holiday and a lull in bad news related to crypto exchange FTX's implosion. The latter pause ended with BlockFi's petition.

"We need to see if there's going to be more contagion coming," Marco Sampaio, co-founder and CEO of Hashdex, told CoinDesk TV's "First Mover" program. "We know the macro is also playing a role in this. The pressure coming from China is also putting pressure on crypto or risky assets in general."

But Sampaio added cautiously: "We need to see what's going to happen. We have many chapters to follow [in] the coming weeks."

Ether was recently changing hands at about $1,175, also up 1.3% from Sunday, same time. Ether's price fell roughly 3% earlier in the day after a "whale" address moved 73,224 ETH, worth $85.7 million, to Binance during Asia trading hours, according to an analysis by on-chain researcher Lookonchain. Investors typically transfer coins to centralized exchanges when they intend to sell or use the coins as a margin in derivatives trading.

Most other cryptos in the CoinDesk top 20 by market capitalization were recently trading in the green, with popular meme coin DOGE up more than 5%, continuing an almost week-long surge whose spark remains unclear. DOGE alternative SHIB was up about 3%. The CoinDesk Market Index (CDI), an index measuring cryptos' performance, was roughly flat.

News of continued demonstrations in China, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and hawkish remarks by U.S. Federal Reserve officials on Monday sent equity markets tumbling with the tech-heavy Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closing off about 1.5%.

Hashdex's Sampaio noted that institutional investors focused on crypto's long-term potential have been less affected by the industry's recent debacles than companies that have been trading and are "dis-allocating" their assets. "We know that markets come and go," he said. "I would say 'give it time.' It's hurting now but we don't think that's going to be the scenario forever."

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