First Mover Americas: Coinbase Seeks Clear Answers From SEC

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Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) asked a federal court on Monday to force the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to respond to a petition it filed last year asking for formal rules for digital assets, in particular whether existing securities laws apply to digital assets. The move comes after the SEC warned Coinbase last month that it expected to sue the exchange over allegations of listing and offering unregistered securities.

Bitcoin’s 50-day moving average is in focus after the cryptocurrency fell 11% from a 10-month high of $31,000 it hit last week. The decline has brought attention to bitcoin's 50-day simple moving average, which now sits at $27,244. According to Alex Kuptsikevich, senior market analyst at FxPro, a potential violation of the 50-day SMA support would challenge bullish market sentiment. "The market has erased its previous growth momentum and is now testing the strength of the medium-term uptrend in the form of the 50-day moving average," Kuptsikevich said in an email. "A break below this would call into question the bull market's strength, while a consolidation below $26,600 could be the prologue to a more profound decline."

The U.K.'s Standard Chartered Bank said crypto winter is finally over and bitcoin has the potential to reach $100,000 by year end. The climb to six figures could be driven by a number of factors, including the recent banking-sector crisis that helped to “re-establish bitcoin’s use as a decentralized scarce digital asset,” the bank said in a report on Monday. “Against this backdrop, bitcoin has benefited from its status as a branded safe haven, a perceived relative store of value and a means of remittance,” analyst Geoff Kendrick wrote. Bitcoin has gained 65% since the start of the year.

Chart of the Day

• The chart shows the 90-day moving average of the flow of bitcoin out of and into centralized exchanges.
• The metric has flipped positive this year, indicating net inflows, perhaps a sign of investors looking to liquidate holdings or use coins for margin trading.
• "So far in 2023, there has been a slight net influx of BTC onto exchanges, but it pales in comparison to the influx of 2019," analysts from Blockware Solutions said.
• "2022 featured the largest net exodus in exchange balances of all time. The previous largest next exodus in 2020 preceded a parabolic bull run," the analysts added.

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