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Thanks to the latest rally in the crypto market, MicroStrategy’s bitcoin holdings are in the green, on paper at least.

Bitcoin was trading at $30,103 by 4:40 a.m. EST, up 1.6% over the past 10 hours, according to Binance data via TradingView. The cryptocurrency is up 82% year-to-date and recently registered its best quarterly increase in two years. The rise in bitcoin has been linked to the prospect of interest rate increases peaking amid banking stress in the U.S. and across Europe.

The surge in prices has pushed the price of bitcoin above MicroStrategy’s average purchase price of $29,803. While that means the company is technically up, it’s only by a few hundreds dollars, which is a small buffer. Since the company owns so much bitcoin, if it was sold in a short period of time, it would likely push the price down significantly in the process. This means the company likely wouldn’t be able to sell all of its bitcoin for a profit yet if it wanted to.

MicroStrategy’s bitcoin holdings have been in the red since last June. At the time, the collapse of crypto lender Celsius and the failure of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital propelled the markets down even further. During this time, the U.S. Federal Reserve also increased interest rates to combat rising inflation. 

Recent bitcoin purchases lowered MicroStrategy’s average purchase price. MicroStrategy added 1,045 bitcoin on April 5, following up on a March 27 announcement that stated it had bought 6,455 bitcoin. 

MicroStrategy and its subsidiaries now hold approximately 140,000 bitcoins, at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $4.17 billion, according to The Block Research data. 

Shares in the firm are up 114% year-to-date, outperforming bitcoin, and are trading at $312.78. 

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

After a wave of redemptions following its links to collapsed U.S. lender Silicon Valley Bank, the supply of the USDC stablecoin on Ethereum has finally started to stabilize — while ceding further ground to larger rival tether.  

The amount of USDC in circulation stands at just under 31 billion — some 11 billion less than at the start of the year — after last month’s high-profile depeg spooked investors. When Silicon Valley Bank shuttered, the second-largest stablecoin temporarily lost its 1:1 peg to the U.S. dollar. USDC issuer Circle had, at the time, $3.3 billion of reserve funds at the bank.

While guarantees from federal regulators helped USDC regain its peg, redemptions steadily continued until now.

Binance USD and Gemini dollar supplies also decline

Other stablecoin supplies on Ethereum have also dwindled since Jan. 1 — notably Binance USD and Gemini dollar. The former, which is issued by Paxos in a deal with the world’s largest crypto exchange, has decreased from just over 16.5 billion to just over 7 billion, while GUSD has dropped from roughly 575 million to less than 391 million.

Regulatory actions against Binance appear to have dented demand for its namesake stablecoin. Late last month, the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission sued Binance for allegedly violating federal laws and failing to register in the U.S. Afterward, a Financial Times report claimed the exchange intentionally obfuscated its links to China. Most recently, Binance Australia Derivatives had its license canceled by the country’s regulator — citing a slew of global regulatory concerns.

There are also concerns regarding the health of the Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss-founded crypto exchange, Gemini. The twins recently loaned $100 million to their firm after an unsuccessful effort to raise outside funds, Bloomberg reported.

Gemini also acknowledged last month that a “limited number” of customers’ email addresses and partial phone numbers were leaked by a third-party — leading to phishing attempts from bad actors.

Tether is increasing its stablecoin dominance

Circle’s woes, Binance’s regulatory concerns and Gemini’s struggles have only bolstered demand for tether, the foremost dollar-pegged stablecoin.

After starting the year with a 32% share of the total Ethereum stablecoin supply, USDT now accounts for almost 43% — an increase of more than 10 percentage points. The supply of tether on the prominent blockchain increased from 32.3 billion to 35.3 billion in that time.

In February, Tether issued an attestation report and claimed its assets exceeded its liabilities. It also reported a net profit of $700 million for the fourth quarter of 2022.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Bitcoin’s dominance rate, or share of the total crypto market, has risen to its highest in almost two years while ether’s stagnates.

In a planned move, around 0.5% of the total token supply will be unlocked on Wednesday.

Over $145 million in shorts against bitcoin prices were liquidated since early Asian morning hours on Tuesday.

Beijing allowing bitcoin’s price to be displayed on one of the country’s largest social network platforms shows a growing acceptance of the asset class within the country.

ALSO: Sam Reynolds writes that former BitMex CEO Arthur Hayes foresees the balkanization of finance and bitcoin rallying because the current global banking system “is bankrupt.” Bitcoin is on the rise.

The price of bitcoin topped the $30,000 mark for the first time since June 2022, continuing a crypto rally that began at the start of this year.

CoinGecko data showed bitcoin topping $30,000 late this evening, before it dipped slightly under the mark again. The world’s foremost cryptocurrency had earlier hit the threshold on crypto exchanges including Coinbase and OKX.

Bitcoin was last at $30,000 in June 2022, as it fell for a prolonged period from the dizzying heights of the 2021 bull market of the year before, which had seen it trading as high as $67,000, according to CoinGecko. Bitcoin fell precipitously from there to a low of around $16,000 late last year — a year marked by a string of catastrophes for the crypto sector, including the implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX.

Bitcoin is up 79% on the year, its run underpinned by bank runs that called into question the resiliency of centralized banking options. Since the beginning of the year, bitcoin has gained 79%, while ether has risen 59%.

Rich Rosenblum, co-founder and president of GSR, the crypto market maker, said a desire for “de-dollarization” has helped spur bitcoin’s resurgence, suggesting that countries are buying gold and bitcoin as a means to gain independence from the U.S.

“On the world stage of sovereigns, a few billion dollars is small, but it can have a large impact on crypto, especially during a time of crimped liquidity,” he added.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Crypto markets trekked higher late Monday with bitcoin trading up more than 4.6% over the last 24 hours to near $30,000, according to data from CoinGecko. 

Bitcoin approached the psychologically important $30,000 level while ether pushed above $1,900 for the first time since August. Monday’s gains add to a broader rally in cryptocurrencies that began at the beginning of the year, underpinned by a wide-range of bank runs that called into question the resiliency of centralized banking options. Since the beginning of the year, bitcoin has gained 79%, while ether has picked up 59%. 

On Wall Street, Monday’s trading session was a mixed bag with U.S. stock indexes paring losses as investors digested a new employment report. Traders are also expecting a week of new data on the earnings and banking earnings front. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were little changed on the day.

As for crypto markets, investors have focused in on Ethereum’s so-called Shanghai upgrade, which is slated to go into effect April 12. It has been viewed as a relatively bearish event as it would allow users to unlock staked ether and finally be able to sell into the open market. 

Framework’s Vance Spencer — a large holder of ether — noted that crypto might finally be de-coupling from broader macro. 

“We are going up because everyone larped as a macro economist for a full year while simultaneously forgetting to allocate to the asset class they spend 12 hours a day commenting on via crypto Twitter, and now they are panicking,” he said.

Rich Rosenblum, co-founder and president of GSR, the crypto market maker, attributed bitcoin’s rise to interest rate hikes that “are no longer as viable as an option now that we are seeing the unexpected consequences of them, i.e. the bank runs.”

“If forced to keep rates low, it could cause inflation to become unhinged, the ultimate bitcoin bull case,” he added. Rosenblum also pointed to a desire for “de-dollarization” — suggesting that countries are buying gold and bitcoin as a means to gain independence from the U.S. 

“On the world stage of sovereigns, a few billion dollars is small, but it can have a large impact on crypto, especially during a time of crimped liquidity,” he said. 

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.