Key points:
- Cryptocurrencies Start the Week In The Green
- The Freeway Staking Platform Halts Withdrawals
- US State Regulators Exercise Supranational Authority
The major cryptocurrencies have begun the week on a positive note, with most of the major altcoins gaining over the past 24 hours, riding the “risk on” theme across global asset classes from last week. The crypto staking platform, Freeway, stated Sunday it had paused withdrawals, whilst US state authorities are operating a supranational flex regarding their challenges to decentralised finance.
Cryptocurrencies Start the Week in The Green
The major cryptocurrencies have started the week with positive price action, broadly higher over the weekend and in early Monday trading. Bitcoin continues to hover between the $19-20K range and is up about 2% over the past 24 hours.
This positive price action has reflected the wider, upbeat “risk on” theme seen across global riskier assets into the latter part of October, as US and global stock averages posted their best weekly gains for four months last week. This more bullish tone comes despite higher US and global bond yields and is being assisted by broadly better than expected earnings reports as we continue into the US Q3 earnings season. This week marks a significant week for US big tech earnings, with Alphabet (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (Meta), Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) all reporting.
Also read:Are these Cryptocurrencies potentially recession proof?
The Freeway Staking Platform Halts Withdrawals
Pointing to forex and crypto market volatility, the cryptocurrency staking platform, Freeway, announced Sunday it had paused withdrawal services. This sent its token plunging by around 75% in subsequent trading according to CoinGecko.com. Although not a significant project in the bigger picture (market cap was below $70 million before the plunge, now around $10 million), this withdrawal freeze highlights ongoing fragility in the crypto market space.
US State Regulators Exercise Supranational Authority
Last week saw state authorities from Texas, Kentucky and Alabama file cease-and-desist orders against Slotie NFT. This is despite the company being based in Georgia (the country, not the US state). This was the latest initiatives that has seen US state regulator cooperate to confront alleged metaverse offences. This can be viewed as yet another example of US state regulators echoing the US federal government in a supranational application of authority regarding non-US projects.