Buffett also "took action"? Bitcoin starts carnival mode

Source: China Times

After a week of silence, in the early morning of February 27, the price of Bitcoin suddenly changed again, breaking through 54,000 US dollars, and then soared. It once exceeded 57,000 US dollars at around 10 a.m. on the 27th, with an intraday increase of more than 10 %, hitting a new high since January 2022. However, as of press time, the latest price of Bitcoin has fallen back to $55,866.4, with the intraday increase narrowing to 8.45%.

According to Coinglass data, as the price of Bitcoin exceeded 57,000 US dollars, the entire network liquidated positions reached 112 million US dollars within one hour, of which the amount of short positions liquidated It reached US$83.2726 million, and the liquidation amount of long orders was US$28.4994 million. In the past 24 hours, more than 88,000 people have been liquidated, with a total liquidation amount of US$380 million.

"This year is another 'halving year'. After the holiday, Bitcoin is bullish, and the market has accumulated a lot of short positions," said a blockchain expert from the China Institute of Communications Committee member and chairman of the Zhongguancun Blockchain Industry Alliance Policy Group Wang Juan told the China Times reporter that the current rise is concentrated in BTC and has not driven the low-threshold investment range such as altcoins and inscriptions. The sharp rise in the Bitcoin market is, on the one hand, exploding shorts and belongs to the long-short game of the market; on the other hand, due to various particularities such as the channels and transactions of Bitcoin assets, the current rise in buying includes the risk aversion of bulk capital. .

Bitcoin ETF trading volume hits another record

Led by Bitcoin, U.S. stocks Cryptocurrency stocks also surged. Cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase (COIN) and MicroStrategy (MSTR) both gained 17% on Monday. Large Bitcoin miners Marathon Digital (MARA) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) gained 22% and 15%, respectively.

JPMorgan analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou noted in a recent report that after consolidating in January, retail interest in cryptocurrencies rebounded in February and Become an important driving force for price increases. He pointed to three key catalysts that help explain the new retail interest: Bitcoin’s halving and Ethereum’s next technical upgrade and the potential approval of a spot Ethereum ETF.

Monitoring data shows that as of the close of U.S. stocks on Monday, the daily trading volume of spot Bitcoin ETFs other than GBTC has reached 2.4 billion U.S. dollars, a record high, about 10% in recent days. Twice the average trading volume. Among them, BlackRock IBIT’s trading volume reached US$1.3 billion, which was approximately 30% higher than the previous historical high.

Since the adoption of the Bitcoin spot ETF, as of February 25, the number of Bitcoins held by the 11 ETFs has increased from 619,491 to 732,549, with a total cumulative increase of Holds 113,058 Bitcoins. The total holding data of Bitcoin ETF is 732,000 Bitcoins, and the scale of managed funds has increased from US$28.59 billion to US$37.21 billion, a cumulative increase of US$8.6 billion.

In this regard, Yu Jianing, president of UWEB and honorary chairman of the Hong Kong Blockchain Association, told the China Times reporter that the successful listing of the Bitcoin spot ETF not only provides Institutional investors provide a compliant way to enter the digital asset market, and also bring convenience to the majority of retail investors, further expanding the audience base of Bitcoin. This increase in capital inflows has undoubtedly provided strong support for Bitcoin prices.

In Yu Jianing’s view, the rise in Bitcoin prices is inseparable from global macroeconomic factors. Against the backdrop of improving global economic growth expectations and increased investor preference for risk assets, digital assets such as Bitcoin are gaining popularity due to their unique value storage and potential appreciation opportunities. In addition, the widespread use of financial derivatives and leveraged transactions has increased market volatility. Under the influence of high leverage, a small increase in the price of Bitcoin may quickly amplify, triggering forced liquidation, and thus triggering larger price fluctuations. This mechanism may accelerate the rise of Bitcoin prices in the short term, but it also increases market uncertainty and risks.

Reporters noticed that a piece of news about stock god Buffett’s investment in cryptocurrency was widely spread in the “currency circle”. The news said, “Buffett invested in cryptocurrency through Nubank. The bank indirectly invested in cryptocurrency."

The reporter learned through investigation that Nubank is a digital bank headquartered in Brazil. The rumored investment was as early as 2021 It was completed in 2016, when Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway invested $500 million in Nubank's parent company. Nubank launched a new product Nucripto in 2022, through which users can buy, sell and trade more than a dozen cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

However, there is currently no definite news of Buffett directly investing in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Buffett has previously been one of Bitcoin's staunch opponents. In 2018, he compared Bitcoin to "rat poison" and said that the final outcome of cryptocurrencies will be bad because they have not generated anything related to this asset. the value of.

"It is obviously far-fetched to regard this as good news. The 'coin circle' always has its own logic, and stories are often told for the sake of telling stories. Yes." A senior investor told a reporter from China Times.

Another piece of news is also worth noting. On February 26, Microstrategy founder Michael Saylor publicly stated that from February 15 to February 25, the company and its subsidiaries purchased approximately 3,000 Bitcoins for approximately US$155.4 million in cash. Each Bitcoin The price is approximately $51,813.

In fact, since August 2020, MicroStrategy has begun "hoarding" Bitcoin. To date, Microstrategy has spent approximately US$6.09 billion purchasing 193,000 Bitcoins, with an average price per Bitcoin of US$31,544.

In response to listed companies investing in Bitcoin, Zhu Keli, executive director of the China Information Association and founding director of the Guoyan New Economic Research Institute, told the China Times reporter that listed companies Investing in cryptocurrencies is a high-risk, high-reward activity that needs to be treated with caution. On the one hand, the cryptocurrency market is highly volatile, with prices skyrocketing and plummeting. Once an investment goes wrong, the company may suffer huge losses; on the other hand, the cryptocurrency market is not well regulated and there are many legal risks.

"Listed companies need to fully assess risks before investing in cryptocurrency, formulate detailed investment strategies and risk control measures, and ensure compliance and legality. At the same time, listed companies It is also necessary to strengthen information disclosure and promptly disclose investment risks and investment status to investors," Zhu Keli said.

Supervision is not lenient

With the overall recovery of Bitcoin prices, global supervision Also closely followed.

Zhu Keli believes that the regulatory trend of cryptocurrency will become more and more strict. As the cryptocurrency market continues to develop and grow, governments of various countries will also regulate it more and more strictly. Come pay more and more attention to it. In the future, the cryptocurrency market may face more stringent regulatory policies and regulations, including but not limited to transaction restrictions, capital controls, anti-money laundering, etc. Therefore, investors need to pay close attention to changes in regulatory policies and adjust their investment strategies in a timely manner.

Zhu Keli emphasized that the cryptocurrency market is highly volatile, with prices skyrocketing and plummeting, and investors need to bear extremely high risks. Cryptocurrency market supervision is not yet complete, and there are still problems such as technical risks and security risks. Therefore, ordinary investors need to fully understand the market conditions, assess their risk tolerance, and formulate detailed investment strategies and risk control measures before investing in cryptocurrencies. During this process, investors also need to keep a cool head and not be driven by panic and greed.

On February 7, the U.S. SEC voted to adopt a rule requiring market participants with significant liquidity to comply with federal securities laws and include cryptocurrencies. in. The rules state that if a participant’s trading activities in crypto-asset securities, including products, structures and activities involved in so-called DeFi markets, meet the definition of “as part of regular business” set forth in the final rule, the participant will be required to Register as a dealer or dealer in government securities.

On February 22, the European Union selected Frankfurt, Germany, as the location of its new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), which will directly regulate the cryptocurrency industry. In April 2023, EU lawmakers voted to approve the first EU-wide cryptocurrency regulation, MiCA. This regulatory framework represents the first attempt to harmonize the cross-jurisdictional regulation of digital assets and their related activities within the EU.

On February 12, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) stated that it would revoke the licenses of cryptocurrency exchanges that do not meet standards and expel them from South Korea. Overseas exchanges operating in South Korea will face strict regulatory compliance requirements.

Angel investor Guo Tao told the "China Times" reporter that the regulatory trend of cryptocurrency shows different characteristics around the world. Some countries have begun or are considering implementing stricter regulatory measures to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and other illegal activities. At the same time, regulators are also concerned about the potential impact of cryptocurrencies on financial stability. However, some countries have adopted a more open attitude and even launched their own central bank digital currency (CBDC).

"In the future, we may see more international cooperation and coordination to ensure the healthy development of the cryptocurrency market." Guo Tao said.