Bearish clouds and rain lies ahead in the next 24 hours, signaling downward pressure on the prices of the 12 cryptocurrencies covered by ATTMO.

Cardano, Avalanche, Binance Coin and Dogecoin will continue to face negative trading conditions over a one-week horizon. However, the sun will return and shine over Bitcoin, Ether, Ripple’s XRP and Polygon over this medium-term time horizon. This indicates upside potential.

Cryptocurrencies drop on lack of upward catalysts

The cryptocurrency trend was negative over the past 24 hours as crypto investors continue to cash out their profits in the absence of upward price catalysts. Interest rate cuts, which would bolster the price of cryptocurrencies, are being delayed as inflation remains stubbornly high and regulatory uncertainties in the US continue to dampen the general crypto sentiment.

Inflows into the cryptoverse are as a result nearly zero since Bitcoin’s halving on April 19. The price of Bitcoin has dropped 8 percent over the past month and is down 17 percent since its all-time high reached mid-March, the Bitcoin chart shows.

“#Bitcoin's #onchain activity is approaching historic lows as traders have dramatically slowed transactions in the 2 months since its #alltimehigh. This isn't necessarily a sign of more $BTC dips, but rather a signal of crowd fear and indecision,” the crypto research firm Santiment said.

But not everything is dark and gloomy. In Hong Kong, more than 2,000 Chinese investors attended the Bitcoin Asia conference held on Thursday and Friday last week. The event highlighted the growing interest in cryptocurrencies in the region after Hong Kong launched spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange traded funds (ETFs) on April 30.

Crypto trading is currently banned in mainland China, but there might be ways to offer the new crypto ETFs to Chinese investors through the Hong Kong ETF Connect framework, South China Morning Post reported.

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Additional US banks disclose Bitcoin ETF holdings

The third-largest US bank, Wells Fargo, holds 2,245 of Grayscale’s ETF, while the fifth-largest bank, US Bancorp, holds Bitcoin ETFs from Grayscale, BlackRock and Fidelity, their quarterly regulatory filings show. The private bank Edmond de Rothschild also holds Grayscale and BlackRock ETFs, its latest filing shows.

The price of Bitcoin dropped 0.2 percent to $60,955 over the past 24 hours.

Asset managers refile their joint ETH ETF application

On Friday, Ark Invest and 21Shares refiled their joint Ether ETF application to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A clause about staking was removed.

The US regulator has until May 24 to announce its decision. Few analysts expect an approval and expect the asset managers to wait for the outcome of the US Presidential election in November. 

A reelection of Donald Trump would probably lead to more crypto-friendly policies in the US and the appointment of a SEC Chairman more positively inclined to crypto assets than the current one, Gary Gensler, is.

The price of Ether fell 1.4 percent to $2,892 over the past 24 hours.

Binance & Kucoin granted VASP license by India

The Indian government’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has granted Binance and Kucoin licenses for operating as virtual asset service providers (VASPs), Reuters reports. Binance was last month allowed to return to the Indian market after paying a $2 million fine for violations of money laundering rules.

The price of Binance Coin shed 0.6 percent to $588 over the past 24 hours.

Ripple CEO warns about enquiries into Tether’s stablecoin

The US government’s scrutiny of Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin USDT, could negatively impact the cryptoverse at large, the CEO of Ripple Labs, Brad Garlinghouse said in an interview with World Class. The government fears USDTs are being used by terrorists and countries under sanctions, such as Russia.

“I view Tether as a very important part of the ecosystem and I don’t know how to predict the impact it would have on the rest of the ecosystem,” Garlinghouse is quoted as saying.

The price of XRP, the cryptocurrency issued by Ripple, dipped 2.9 percent to $0.49 over the past 24 hours. As for USDT, its market cap has increased by $10 billion to $110 billion over the past 2 months.

Blockchain activities on Polkadot at record high

The number of active blockchain addresses on Polkadot rose to an all-time high of 605,000 in April. “In case you missed it, April marked a new ATH for monthly active accounts since the start of '22, when parachains first launched,” Polkadot announced.

The price of Polkadot shed 3.5 percent to $6.48 over the past 24 hours.

SEC urges court to dismiss Coinbase’s appeal

The SEC has requested a federal court to dismiss Coinbase’s appeal of its enforcement case against the largest US crypto exchange, a court document shows. The US regulator sued Coinbase last June for failing to properly register its crypto exchange, brokerage and clearing services.

“The Commission couldn't help contradicting its own arguments for the same kind of appeal in Ripple,” Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, commented. Ripple was sued by the SEC for similar reasons in 2020.  The SEC would like to slap a $2 billion fine on Ripple, which judges this amount as disproportionate and last month filed an opposition brief.

Kraken rejects SEC’s charges, urging dismissal of the case

As for Kraken, another crypto exchange sued by the SEC, it replied to the charges brought by the US regulator last November in a final brief aiming at dismissing the lawsuit. Kraken is also accused of having failed to properly register its crypto exchange, brokerage and clearing services.

“The SEC had its opportunity to tell the Court what, precisely, is the investment contract that supposedly trades on Kraken. But they couldn't… The SEC’s theories here are nonsensical,” the Chief Legal Officer of Kraken, Marco Santori said.

Kraken had already been sued by the regulator for its crypto staking services. In 2023, it reached a settlement with the SEC and agreed to pay a $30 million fine. 

Vote on Fit 21 Act likely later this month

The US Congress will vote on the Financial Innovation and Technology (FIT) for the 21st Century Act later this month after the House Committee on Rules decided to review the bill.

“For too long, the U.S. digital asset ecosystem has been plagued by regulatory uncertainty that stifled innovation and left consumers unprotected. #FIT21 will cement American leadership of the global financial system and bolster our role as an international hub for innovation,” the Republican Chair of the House Committee on Financial Services, Patrick McHenry, said.

The bill aims at categorizing digital assets based on blockchain technology, distinguishing between centralized and decentralized blockchains. It will create robust consumer protections, provide regulatory clarity for market participants, end regulation by enforcement and allow the digital asset ecosystem to thrive in the US, according to the House Committee on Financial Services. 

DISCLAIMER

ATTMO, a weather-inspired AI tool, makes cryptocurrency predictions. It also forecasts longer-term cryptocurrency trends. These forecasts are not trading advice; they are only decision support tools. They do not include information that is specific to the user; in particular they do not account for their personal risk appetite or market assessment. The forward-looking weather-inspired predictions part of this report may have changed by the time you read this edition of ATTMO Times. So always check the latest ATTMO predictions before making any investment decision.