The global crypto market cap is $3.19tn, a 1.27% decrease over the last day, while the total crypto market 24h volume increased 15.84% to $67.04bn. The US stock market will remain closed today due to a public holiday (Presidents' Day).
Friday's US retail sales data caused increased market volatility. A significant drop in retail sales (-0.9% vs expected -0.2%) overshadowed stronger industrial production numbers (0.5% vs expected 0.3%). This weaker consumer spending data renewed speculation that the Federal Reserve might cut interest rates sooner, pushing 10-year Treasury yields below 4.5% and erasing gains from the recent inflation surprise. Despite industrial output beating forecasts and showing solid growth from last month's 0.9% increase, it failed to shift the market's focus from the disappointing retail figures.
The January retail sales decline of 0.9% presents two potential scenarios for crypto prices. In a positive case, economic uncertainty could drive investors toward crypto, particularly Bitcoin as "digital gold," while potential Fed rate cuts due to weak economic data could provide additional liquidity support. However, crypto's increased correlation with traditional risk assets suggests a negative scenario where it could decline alongside other risk assets, with institutional investors potentially withdrawing capital during economic uncertainty. Bitcoin and Ethereum would likely show more resilience than smaller cryptocurrencies due to their higher liquidity and market recognition. The actual impact will ultimately depend on whether the market currently views crypto primarily as a store of value or a risk asset.
Bitcoin's price briefly went up above $98,600 on Friday, but has been on a general downtrend since. It currently trades at around $95,900, 1.50% lower than a day prior.
US BTC Spot ETFs reversed their course on the last trading session of last week, recording a daily net inflow of $70.6m on Feb 14. ETH ETFs also recorded a net inflow of $11.7m. Still, the weekly net flows were negative for both BTC at $-580m, breaking the trend of the previous 5 weeks, and ETH at $-26.3m.
According to Lookonchain, a whale created a new wallet 2 days ago and withdrew 7,345 ETH (over $19.8m) from Binance. 4,757 of those ETH are currently staked on Lido. On the other hand, on Feb 13, another whale deposited 20,000 ETH ($52.84m) to Kraken again, leaving 50,874 ETH ($134.8m) in the wallet. Despite that, according to @ali_charts on X, more than 900,000 ETH have been withdrawn from exchanges in the past 2 weeks, signaling increased accumulation. ETH price is up 1% over the past day and currently trades above $2,700.
JPMorgan analysts found that Tether's reserve compliance has declined since mid-2024 as its supply increased. Their analysis shows that just 66% of Tether's reserves would meet STABLE Act requirements, though a higher portion (83%) would satisfy GENIUS Act standards.
The total stablecoin market cap is currently at $225.35bn, a 1.173bn increase over the past week (a +0.52% change).
Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund has invested $436.9 million in BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF (IBIT), a significant institutional position, according to a Feb 14th SEC filing. The investment came after BlackRock received its Abu Dhabi operating license in Nov 2024. In another Feb 14 SEC filing, Wisconsin's state pension fund reported it has doubled its Bitcoin ETF holdings, growing from $164m in May 2024 to $321m.
Argentina's President Milei is under investigation after promoting $LIBRA, which exhibited characteristics of a pump-and-dump scheme. His Feb 14th endorsement on X temporarily made the token's market cap soar to $4.6 billion before it sharply collapsed, while large holders withdrew over $100 million. Red flags included a rushed website launch and $87 million in withdrawals within just three hours. Milei later removed his promotional post, claiming ignorance about the project's nature. The incident has sparked calls for impeachment and prompted a government investigation into possible illegal conduct. International law firms are now reportedly preparing lawsuits against him.
