First Mover Americas: BTC Tops $61K, But Traders Remain Cautious

This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter, putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.

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CoinDesk 20 Index: 1,961 +3.2% BTC$107 305,13: $61,384 +4.4% Ether ETH$3 883,25: $2,754 +4.3% S&P 500: 5,434.43 +1.7% Gold: $2,513 +1.9% Nikkei 225: 36,442.43 +0.58%

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Bitcoin topped $61,000, reversing some of its losses from the steep drop at the start of August. BTC has risen more than 4% in the last 24 hours, outperforming the broader crypto market, which has increased just over 2%, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 Index. Despite the gains, some trading funds remain cautious amid a busy week for data, warning of possible short-term tremors that could impede the rally. “Investors remain cautious ahead of US CPI this week,” crypto trading firm QCP Capital said in a Telegram broadcast. “They will closely watch inflation numbers for guidance on whether the Fed will cut rates by 50 or 25 bps in September. The odds are now evenly split.”

Goldman Sachs holds positions in seven of the 11 U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs, totaling over $400 million. Its largest holding is BlackRock's IBIT at $238.6 million, followed by Fidelity's FBTC at $79.5 million, then $56.1 million of Invesco Galaxy's BTCO, according to its quarterly 13-F report. During CoinDesk's Consensus 2024 festival in Austin, Mathew McDermott, the bank's global head of digital assets, said the BTC ETFs were a "big psychological turning point" for the industry. "The bitcoin ETF obviously has been an astonishing success," McDermott said on stage. Goldman Sachs' digital asset desk is primarily focused on the digitization of assets.

Coinbase appears to be developing a version of wBTC to run on its layer-2 blockchain Base. Speculation was sparked by cryptic posts from Coinbase late Tuesday U.S. time. The posts contained the wording: "cbBTC" and "Coming soon." They were followed by a post from Jesse Pollak, who runs Base, saying how the team plans to build a "massive bitcoin economy" on the network. Wrapping a crypto token is a way of making it available on protocols other than the one it was originally designed for, bringing increased liquidity to the target ecosystem.

Chart of the Day

• The chart shows bitcoin dominance – the percentage of the total crypto market that BTC accounts for – over the last 12 months.
• Its current level above 57% is the highest since March 2021.
• This reflects the positive tailwinds such as ETF approval and the halving event in the face of challenging market conditions.
• Source: TradingView

- Jamie Crawley

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