Bitcoin price is back above $18,500 currently. A glance at the daily chart reveals the price retreated five out of seven sessions last week – closing lower on the week! The downward trend reasserted itself again last week – the price is moving to test the lower bound of trading range around $18,000 since summer! Most likely it will breach below the range this week!
Risk off trading reigns supreme for second week, reinforced by Federal Reserve’s statement of resolve last Wednesday to continue raising rates to bring down inflation to its target of below 2%. Meanwhile a major US crypto miner filed for bankruptcy protection last week while miners started selling their Ethereum holdings after Merge, and Republican lawmakers filed a brief in support of Custodia Bank’s legal battle with the Federal Reserve.
One of the largest US operators of crypto-mining data centers - Compute North, filed for bankruptcy as it owes as much as $500 million to at least 200 creditors, according to a filing. A capital raise announced by Compute North in February amounting to $385 million, consisting of an $85 million equity round and $300 million in debt financing, didn’t prevent the insolvency against the background of retreating crypto prices.
Ethereum miners dumped over 16,000 ETH from September 12 to September 19 while the Merge took effect on September 15, according to a Bankless newsletter. Data miners working for rewards on the Ethereum network had accumulated nearly $341 million worth of the cryptocurrency Ethereum up to the Ethereum blockchain’s historic shift to a more energy-efficient Proof of Stake system, and still have about 245,000 ETH left. This Ethereum hoard is worth $319 million and miners’ sales of their hoards could become a source of near-term downward pressure on the cryptocurrency's price.
Seven US Republican lawmakers submitted a friend of the court (amicus) brief last Thursday, urging a Wyoming court to dismiss the Federal Reserve’s motion to dismiss a suit filed by Custodia Bank. The Wyoming-based bank filed suit against the Federal Reserve in June claiming that the Fed’s refusal to make a decision on granting the crypto bank’s application for a master account is unlawful and discriminatory against crypto institutions. The Federal Reserve, for its part, has argued that it needs more time to consider the broader ramifications and logistics of offering crypto-based institutions access to its payment systems.
