Bitcoin’s tumble brought some key technical levels into focus. The token has dropped below its 50-day moving average, which for some chart analysts adds to the risk of further declines.
Crypto investors often turn some of their gaze to Tether, the largest stablecoin, during periods of market stress. The token is meant to have a constant $US1 value and is widely used to facilitate digital-asset trading, but has long faced questions about the makeup of the reserves underpinning its peg.
The stablecoin doesn’t have any exposure to Silvergate, Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer at Tether, said on Twitter.
Hayden Hughes, co-founder of social-trading platform Alpha Impact, said he detected “heavy buying” of Tether over a five-minute span in the Friday morning trading session in Asia. “We saw a strong defense,” Hughes said, adding that it was “probably by a market-maker.”
Bitcoin’s rebound in 2023 has cooled to 35 per cent, still comfortably above the 4 per cent return from global stocks. Crypto markets last year endured a $US1.5 trillion rout amid tightening monetary policy and a series of blowups that exposed high counterparty risk.
Bloomberg