What Happened in the Crypto Industry & NOBI During the Past Week?

Hey, NOBI’s! A number of exciting events unfolded over the past week. From the soaring PEPE price, which rocketed up to 90%, to the skyrocketing crypto market cap that hit Rp 449.8 T, Japan’s ever-growing crypto friendliness with tax exemptions for crypto issuers, and the positive sentiment pouring in from the IMF. What other hot news is there? Let’s check out our specially curated roundup of the past week’s crypto news just for you!

1. Whale’s Massive Buy Spikes PEPE Coin Rally by 90%

Pepe Coin (PEPE) has been consistently shining with its remarkable price increase over the past week, successfully breaking through its long-term diagonal resistance line. Throughout this uptrend, a whale was spotted gobbling up 3.43 trillion PEPE coins. Intriguingly, prior to this bulk buy, the same whale had made two substantial PEPE trades. The first deal pocketed them a cool US$11.47 million, but sadly, they suffered a US$741,000 loss on the second trade. Now, it’s uncertain whether this latest trade will turn a profit or a loss for the whale.

Wave count analysis indicates that PEPE’s price has been climbing in a new set of five waves since June 15th. If this count proves accurate, it suggests that PEPE’s price is nearing the peak of its third wave. Consequently, the upward trajectory could continue to the next resistance level at US$0.0000021 after a slight pullback. Furthermore, the price has managed to break through a falling resistance line in place since May 13th. Hence, these findings reinforce the likelihood that a fresh upward movement has commenced.

2. Crypto Market Cap Soars by Rp 449.8 Trillion in Just Two Days! What’s Driving It?

In the past couple of days, a fresh surge of energy has jolted the crypto market upwards, reaching a phenomenal figure of USD 30 billion, or approximately Rp 449.8 trillion. This explosion, reported by Bitcoin.com on Tuesday (27/6/2023), is driven by significant gains from two major players: Bitcoin (BTC) soaring by 15.7% and Ethereum (ETH) skyrocketing 10.4% over the past week.

Not just these two giants, Cardano (ADA) also showed a brilliant performance, recording the highest weekly surge among the top 10 cryptos, climbing 11.3%. The market was further boosted by the movement of Pepe (PEPE Coin), a memecoin that has recently been the talk of the town. Over the week, PEPE surged by 64.7% and emerged as one of the market disruptors. Even in daily trading volume, PEPE managed to secure the 11th spot among the most traded per-coin cryptos, with a total trading volume of around USD 312 million, or approximately Rp 4.6 trillion.

3. Hong Kong’s Largest Bank Officially Launches BTC and ETH ETF Trading

HSBC, the banking giant of Hong Kong, has just introduced its first crypto service. According to information from Collin Wu, a crypto journalist, on June 26, 2023, HSBC now enables its customers to sell and buy Bitcoin ETF and Ethereum ETF listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Currently, the exchange lists three crypto ETFs, namely CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF, CSOP Ethereum Futures ETF, and Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF.

However, before you go hunting for profit, HSBC requires its customers to understand the risks and educational material provided through the Virtual Asset Investor Education Center. The news of HSBC diving into the crypto world comes after pressure from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority on major banks to make crypto exchanges their clients. However, HSBC Hong Kong itself has not yet issued an official response. So, let’s wait for further news!

SCOOP: HSBC, the largest bank in Hong Kong, today allows its customers to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs listed on the Hong Kong exchange, and is also the first bank in Hong Kong to allow it. The move will expand local users’ exposure to cryptocurrencies in Hong Kong. pic.twitter.com/vH0LieSVGw

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) June 26, 2023

4. Crypto-Friendly Tax Relief: Japan Exempts Crypto Token Issuers from Taxes

Great news for crypto token issuers in Japan! As of June 20, they no longer need to dig deep into their pockets to pay corporate taxes on crypto profits that have not been cashed. This tax exemption, reported by Cointelegraph on Monday (26/6/2023), became effective six months after the Japanese government approved a proposal that removed tax obligations on “paper profits” from tokens issued and held by crypto companies.

This change is part of a new wave in Japan’s crypto industry, which recently also tightened Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures and prohibited the issuance of stablecoins by non-banking institutions. Japan, one of the first countries to legalize crypto as a private asset, is known for its super strict regulations on crypto. However, these regulations have helped local users recover their assets faster than users in other countries.

5. IMF Asserts that Banning Crypto in a Country is No Longer Effective

The IMF recently offered a fresh perspective on the crypto world. As reported by Yahoo Finance on Monday (26/6/2023), although several countries, especially China, have imposed a total ban on crypto, the IMF signals that this strategy may not yield effective results in the long run. In their blog post, the IMF argued that banning crypto might not be effective in the long run. They suggest that, instead of banning, countries should consider designing a well-thought-out central bank digital currency or CBDC.

In its blog post, the IMF illustrates how four Latin American countries – Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Ecuador – showed a high adoption rate of crypto assets in 2022, even though Argentina had banned payment platforms from offering crypto to customers. According to the IMF, rather than banning, governments should pay more attention to the need for digital payments that are driving people to switch to crypto. While El Salvador, which elevated Bitcoin to a legitimate payment method, is viewed by the IMF as perhaps not the best approach. So, instead of banning, why not try a different approach with a more integrated and efficient CBDC, right?

That wraps up for Crypto This Week. We’ll see you at the next one!