Altcoin prices were in the red Tuesday as cryptocurrency investors appeared to take a mid-week holiday.
But there was only one notable, and predictable, crypto loss as the sector continued to endure the dog days of summer. Meanwhile, crypto exchange operator Coinbase (COIN) also saw its stock price take a hit after the company’s earnings report missed analyst expectations.
CEL to USD
Celsius falls 21%
The beleaguered Celsius Network coin (CEL) was the hardest hit, falling 21% during typical North American trading hours. (All price figures based on CoinMarketCap data.)
But CEL’s decline was not a huge surprise. The coin has faced extreme volatility at times since its value imploded in wake of the Celsius Network’s financial collapse and subsequent move into bankruptcy protection.
The financial troubles of Celsius, Voyager and Three Arrows, also known as 3AC, contributed largely to a cryptocurrency price meltdown in June and July. Voyager and Three Arrows have also filed for bankruptcy.
All three companies were hammered by the collapses of related coins LUNA and TerraUSD.
Coinbase down 10.6%
Coinbase’s stock closed down approximately 10.6% on the NASDAQ Global Select Market. But the loss receded in after-hours trading.
Coinbase reported Tuesday that the number of monthly transacting users (MTUs), a key metric, declined XX% quarter-over-quarter to nine million from 9.2 million. And, MTUs are expected to decline further over the rest of the year, average seven million to nine billion for 2022.
Coinbase’s decline came a day after Ark Investment Management CEO Cathie Wood, a closely watched investor, revealed that the company had sold more than 1.26 million worth of the exchange’s operator’s shares valued at $75m on 26 July.
FIL to USD
Gensler takes hard stance
Wood told Bloomberg TV that Ark made the move due to “regulatory uncertainty” in the crypto sector,. The sell-off came after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deemed some tokens traded on Coinbase to be securities.
SEC chief Gary Gensler has taken a hard stance against cryptocurrencies, making it clear that he regards them as securities. The regulator and Ripple, backer of the XRP coin, are locked in a bitter court case that could determine how digital assets are governed.
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Bitcoin stays around $23,000
Bitcoin (BTC) stayed in the red all day Tuesday, shedding about 3.5%. But the world’s most valuable crypto asset remained above $23,000.
On Monday, Michael Novogratz, the billionaire founder of Galaxy Digital, told Bloomberg TV that he expects bitcoin to stay within its recent price range.
“Will Bitcoin get through $30,000 on this move up? We will see – I’m doubtful,” he said. “I think we’re going to probably be in this range now. I quite frankly would be happy if we’re in a $20,000, $22,000 or $30,000 range for a while.”
Inflows lacking
Novogratz noted that the crypto market has not received significant inflows of institutional investment capital. “We’re not seeing huge institutional flows, to be fair, but we’re not seeing anyone back away.”
ETH to USD
Overall market down
Ether (ETH), the main coin of the Ethereum blockchain, fared slightly worse than bitcoin, falling 4%
Relative unknown filecoin (FIL) dropped 10% and Stellar (XLM) was down 9% after gaining by that amount on Monday. But such declines are typical of virtually any given day.
On the whole, the crypto market was down about 3%, according to crypto investment and trading firm Structure. The crypto sector outperformed stocks, which were down about 4%.
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