Despite the order from Nevada state regulators in the U.S. to stop its operations, Prime Trust, a crypto custodian, did not affect Bitcoin’s price, which stayed above US$30,000.
As of Friday afternoon in Hong Kong, Bitcoin and Ether showed opposite trends, with the former dropping and the latter rising. The top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins, were all in negative territory. Bitcoin managed to stay above US$30,000, despite facing regulatory challenges from Nevada state authorities in the U.S., who ordered Prime Trust, a crypto custodian, to stop its operations.
Friday’s Numbers
Bitcoin depreciated 0.07% as of 6:30 a.m. at 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong and traded for US$30,032. Ether appreciated 0.37% in the same period to $1,886.
According to a notice from Nevada’s Department of Business and Industry, cryptocurrency custodian Prime Trust was ordered to stop its operations on Wednesday. The notice claimed that Prime Trust had failed to fulfill its obligations to its clients, who were unable to withdraw their funds due to a “lack of sufficient client funds.” The notice also stated that Prime Trust had violated several state laws and regulations regarding financial institutions and consumer protection.
The move raised market concern, as Prime Trust was the technology partner of TrueUSD (TUSD), the fifth-largest stablecoin by market capitalization. On Thursday, TrueUSD said it has no exposure to Prime Trust and that the firm maintains multiple USD lanes for minting and redemption.
The world’s first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, bounced back above US$30,0000 after briefly dipping to a daily low of US$29,689 around 11:55 p.m. on Thursday. The market sentiment was boosted by the news of several prominent traditional finance players entering the crypto space this week, such as BlackRock and Deutsche Bank.
During a congressional hearing this week, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell shared his views on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. He acknowledged that Bitcoin has “staying power” as an asset class, but also expressed concerns about the need for better regulation of stablecoins and decentralized finance (DeFi). He also said that a digital currency issued by the Fed could reduce the demand for private alternatives.
Among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, Polygon’s Matic token suffered the biggest loss in the past 24 hours, dropping 5.02% to US$0.6684. XRP followed with a 3.4% decline to US$0.4945.
The total crypto market cap decreased by 1.1% to US$1.17 trillion and the market volume fell 35.81% to US$37.44 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
