First Mover Asia: Does Bitcoin at $30K Really Matter?

Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:

Prices: Bitcoin has a sense of stability at $30,000, but how long will that last?

Insights: Crypto exchange Bitget is targeting Web3 startups with its $100 million fund. The initiatives comes as Asian countries create a framework for Web3.

Prices

CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) 1,278 +7.0 ▲ 0.6% Bitcoin (BTC) $30,264 +439.1 ▲ 1.5% Ethereum (ETH) $1,892 −22.7 ▼ 1.2% S&P 500 4,108.94 −0.2 ▼ 0.0% Gold $2,021 +31.7 ▲ 1.6% Nikkei 225 27,923.37 +289.7 ▲ 1.0% BTC/ETH prices per CoinDesk Indices, as of 7 a.m. ET (11 a.m. UTC)CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) 1,278 +7.0 ▲ 0.6% Bitcoin (BTC) $30,264 +439.1 ▲ 1.5% Ethereum (ETH) $1,892 −22.7 ▼ 1.2% S&P 500 4,108.94 −0.2 ▼ 0.0% Gold $2,021 +31.7 ▲ 1.6% Nikkei 225 27,923.37 +289.7 ▲ 1.0% BTC/ETH prices per CoinDesk Indices, as of 7 a.m. ET (11 a.m. UTC)

Good morning, Asia.

As Asia starts its business day, the crypto markets are stable.

Bitcoin (BTC) is at $30,324, up 1.5% in the last 24 hours, while ether (ETH), on the eve of Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade, is fairly flat, down 1.2% to $1,892.

In an interview on CoinDesk TV, Bruno Ramos de Sousa, head of U.S. markets at Hashdex, said $30,000 isn’t that much of an important milestone for bitcoin.

"We're finally in the stage in which people are back to discussing the importance of bitcoin and crypto more generally in finance and technology," Ramos de Sousa said on CoinDesk TV’s "All About Bitcoin."

Bruno emphasized that investors are becoming more informed in their approach to bitcoin as they acknowledge its potential for long-term growth, and are less obsessed with the price going up or down.

"Most of the investors are very pragmatic in looking at the asset and understanding the possibility that bitcoin becomes something a lot larger than it is today," he said, emphasizing that the U.S. needs to treat crypto as a legitimate asset class.

"It's a wasted opportunity that the U.S. has been taking the approach it has in the past few years. It's lost dominance and relevance in many interesting crypto sectors, from tokenization to security tokens, to ETFs and ETPs," he continued, referring to exchange-traded funds and products.

Meanwhile, CoinDesk crypto market analyst Glenn Williams points out in a recent report that there are both bullish and bearish narratives at play within bitcoin. It might sustain $30K for some time, then go down again before its next pricing surge.

All eyes will be on the next interest rate announcement from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

Biggest Gainers

Asset Ticker Returns DACS Sector Solana SOL +11.5% Smart Contract Platform Terra LUNA +1.9% Smart Contract Platform Polkadot DOT +1.8% Smart Contract Platform

Biggest Losers

Asset Ticker Returns DACS Sector Stellar XLM −1.3% Smart Contract Platform Loopring LRC −1.2% Smart Contract Platform Ethereum ETH −1.2% Smart Contract Platform

Insights

A Bitget Fund for Nurturing Web3 as Asia Embraces Crypto

Crypto exchange Bitget has started a $100 million fund targeting Web3 startups as Asian countries build a framework for developing Web3.

East Asian countries have been making strides to promote crypto in the last few months, with Hong Kong seemingly easing its crypto regulations and Japan approving a white paper for Web3 development last week.

"Despite the bear run, Bitget has always been supporting promising and innovative projects and the development of the Web3 environment with a focus on BUIDL. The launch of the Bitget Web3 Fund is a continuation of our ongoing efforts to drive the adoption of crypto and Web3, reflecting our ‘Go beyond derivative’ strategy in 2023,” Gracy Chen, managing director of Bitget, told CoinDesk in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Seychelles-based Bitget said the fund is self-funded. “Bitget is debt-free with adequate cash flow, thanks to its steady development and fast-growing business,” she said.

The launch of this fund comes after Bitget invested $30 million into decentralized multichain wallet BitKeep.

Bitget will use the BitKeep wallet within its exchange to improve stability and security of handling multiple assets across various blockchains.

Important events

NFT NYC 2023

Web3 Festival 2023 (Hong Kong)

8:30 p.m. HKT/SGT(12:30 UTC) United States Consumer Price Index ex Food & Energy (MoM/March)

CoinDesk TV

In case you missed it, here is the most recent episode of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:

Bitcoin Tops $30K for First Time Since June 2022; Crypto Adoption in Middle East and North Africa

Bitcoin (BTC) moved past the $30,000 level for the first time since June 2022, as March's banking turbulence faded further into the distance and investors grew more optimistic about U.S. central bank monetary policy. eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert shared his reaction. Plus, Binance MENA general manager Alex Chehade discussed the state of crypto adoption in the Middle East and North Africa. And NextCypher Productions founder and Bloq co-founder Jeff Garzik weighed in on the future of Web3 in the entertainment industry.

Headlines

Former Bitcoin Core Developer Says NFT Market Is ‘Pleasantly Down to Earth’ Again: Now that the crypto asset sector has weathered the hype, higher-quality projects are likely to continue developing, Jeff Garzik says.

What’s Next After Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade?: Last year saw the Merge. Now comes the Verge, Purge and Scourge.

First-Quarter Performance Recap: CoinDesk Market Index Up 58%, BTC Gains Amid Banking Crisis: Bitcoin posts its best quarterly performance in two years, and the CMI's Computing and Currency sectors see the most growth.

CleanSpark Buys $144.9M of Bitcoin Mining Rigs to Double Its Hashrate: The brand new Bitmain Antminer S19 XPs miners will be delivered by September.

XRP's 4-Week Rally Was Led by Retail Investors, Kaiko: A closer look at the market orders for XRP suggests large investors, or whales, sold into the rally.