Bitcoin (BTC) has held above its $37,000 support level over the past 24 hours, albeit within a tight trading range and with low volume.
Still, later this week, an executive order by U.S. President Biden that will outline the government’s strategy for cryptocurrencies could be a source of volatility for bitcoin.
“The executive order has been known about before the war in Ukraine and was originally intended to mainly address stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDC),” Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at U.K.-based digital asset broker GlobalBlock, wrote in an email to CoinDesk. “However, due to the increased concerns of Russia using crypto to evade sanctions, many are worried that the order will impose strict regulatory changes that will hinder the crypto industry.”
Elsewhere, Bloomberg reported that European officials are planning a joint bond sale to finance energy and defense spending. For now, talks are informal, but analysts expect a the spending could reduce investor concerns about an economic slowdown stemming from inflation and geopolitical woes. News of the potential bond sale contributed to an uptick in the euro versus the U.S. dollar during the London trading day.
On a positive note, regulatory filings show that large institutions such as ARK Investment Management and Morgan Stanley have been buying shares in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which is trading at a record 30% discount.
Demand from investors, plus million dollar buybacks from Digital Currency Group, which is the parent company of both Grayscale and CoinDesk, could mean that stakeholders are still hoping that the trust will receive regulatory approval to convert the close-ended fund into a spot-based exchange-traded fund. Read more from CoinDesk’s Omkar Godbole here.
