First Mover Asia: Solana in the Green After Weekend Deep Freeze

Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:

Prices: Solana is back and ticking upwards while bitcoin appears overbought.

Insights: The SEC has overreached in its latest actions against crypto entities, but the crypto industry must improve its lobbying efforts to ensure future regulation is effective.

Prices

CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) 1,111.23 +22.5 ▲ 2.1% Bitcoin (BTC) $23,475 +354.0 ▲ 1.5% Ethereum (ETH) $1,636 +43.7 ▲ 2.7% S&P 500 daily close 3,970.04 −42.3 ▼ 1.1% Gold $1,820 +11.2 ▲ 0.6% Treasury Yield 10 Years 3.95% ▲ 0.1 BTC/ETH prices per CoinDesk Indices; gold is COMEX spot price. Prices as of about 4 p.m. ET

Good morning, Asia, here’s how the crypto market is moving this Monday.

Solana is up early 4% after the protocol crashed twice during the weekend, freezing transactions. The Solana Foundation says an investigation is underway into the cause of the crash and will be available shortly.

Meanwhile, bitcoin is trading flat at $23,475. The world’s largest digital asset is up 1.5% in the last 24 hours. Ether is up 2.7% to $1,636.

Katie Stockton, founder, and managing partner at Fairlead Strategies, recently said on CoinDesk TV that bitcoin appears “overbought” making it difficult to clear $25,000.

“The overbought condition would suggest that that resistance is left intact,” she said.

Ether, Stockton says, is looking just like bitcoin. Both are part of a top-down-oriented market where macro forces are price action “as opposed to the fundamental value of things.”

“[Ether] does look just like bitcoin, the range there as defined by resistance around $1,670,” she said.

Joe DiPasquale, CEO of crypto fund manager BitBull Capital, adds that bitcoin is attempting to find support during a minor price correction.

"If bitcoin remains in the current range, we are likely to see $25,000 and then $30,000. A rejection from here could see $20,000 first, followed by $18,000," he said in an email to CoinDesk.

Looking toward next week, the U.S is scheduled to announce its consumer confidence index for February on Tuesday and jobless claims on Thursday. In Asia, the People’s Bank of China will be announcing its balance of trade figures on Tuesday and its inflation rate on Thursday.

With the world’s two biggest economies set to announce important economic data over the next week, all eyes will be on crypto to see if it can overcome key resistance levels.

Insights

Crypto Lobbying Needs a Reset: More FTC, Less SEC

CoinDesk Chief Content Officer Michael Casey writes the weekly "Money Reimagined" newsletter. This essay originally appeared on CoinDesk's website on Feb. 24.

Is there a method to the SEC’s madness?

Of all the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) actions against crypto entities that have stirred the industry’s ire, the agency’s recent move forcing New York-based Paxos to cease issuing its partner Binance’s BUSD stablecoin is the most deserving of an outcry. How, critics rightfully asked, can a token that’s explicitly designed not to fluctuate in price be considered a security?

But a recent account in Fortune suggests the SEC may not have been thinking of securities law at all in that action. Binance was automatically converting competitor-issued stablecoins held by its exchange’s customers’ into BUSD. To me, that looks like an antitrust concern, not one of BUSD being a security.

Now, if there’s one area of enforcement where the crypto community, with its anti-middleman ethos of decentralization, should get behind, it’s prosecution of monopolistic behavior. But that leaves us with the question of why is the SEC getting involved here and not the nation’s trustbuster, the Federal Trade Commission?

I get two takeaways from this:

• Another reminder that, in the absence of clear legislative boundaries for crypto, the SEC is striking out wherever it can to assert authority. It’s partly turf war, partly political posturing during a post-FTX moment in which crypto is a convenient whipping boy.
• The crypto community has done a lousy job picking its friends and enemies within the U.S. government. Advocates should simultaneously work with the FTC to enforce a decentralized market structure for their own industry and with their allies in Congress to prevent the SEC from crimping mass adoption and undermining blockchain-based challenges to monopolies in other industries, such as finance and internet platforms. Instead, the industry fixates on the SEC as the bogeyman, a role in which Chairman Gary Gensler has seemed perfectly at home as his agency has launched a flurry of attention-grabbing actions against Binance/Paxos, Kraken, Terra-Luna and now the Voyager Digital creditors.

Find the full article here:

Important events

ETHDenver 2023

Annual BEAR Research Conference: New Digital Technologies and the Future Financial Landscape

1 p.m. HKT/SGT(5 a.m. UTC): Japan leading economic index (Dec.)

CoinDesk TV

In case you missed it, here is the most recent episode of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:

Coinbase Unveils Its Layer 2 Base; Chamber of Digital Commerce CEO on State of Crypto Regulation

Crypto exchange Coinbase’s new layer 2 blockchain Base had a rough start on Thursday, drawing a stream of complaints from users on social media. The Federal Reserve Board announced Thursday that it had again rejected crypto bank Custodia's bid for Fed supervision. Fairlead Strategies founder and managing partner Katie Stockton shared her crypto markets analysis. Plus, the Chamber of Digital Commerce founder and CEO Perianne Boring discussed why the crypto trade group wants the court to dismiss the SEC vs. Wahi lawsuit. Darma Capital President and co-founder Andrew Keys and Bitfy CEO and founder Lucas Schoch also joined the conversation.

Headlines

Solana Validators to Make Second Restart Attempt as Transaction Freeze Drags On: It’s still unclear what caused the service outage.

Global Crypto Rules to Be Based on Coming FSB and IMF Synthesis Paper, India Says After G-20 Meetings: The paper is expected to be ready by September.

Oasis Exploits Its Own Wallet Software to Seize Crypto Stolen in Wormhole Hack: The High Court of England and Wales ordered the crypto platform to reclaim the stolen funds.

Crypto Investors' $28M ‘Black Thursday’ Lawsuit Against DeFi Giant Maker Dismissed by US Judge: The class-action lawsuit alleged Maker-related entities misrepresented risks of holding collateral debt positions, resulting in heavy losses for some users.

Crypto Markets Analysis: Bitcoin Falls for the Week Amid Inflation, Rate Hike Fears: Ether and most other major cryptos also sank as investors mulled the prospect of prolonged monetary hawkishness.