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Bitfinex Alpha | Yield Curve Points to Recession as BTC Market Volatility Ebbs
The U.S. economy continues to face concerns about a possible recession later this year. The yield curve is more inverted than at any time in the past 40 years, suggesting a longer and deeper recession than usual. Further rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in 2023 could make it harder for businesses to invest, leading to lower consumer spending and sentiment.
The impact of the Fed's rate hikes has already been reflected in consumer behavior, with a survey of consumer sentiment falling to a nine-month low in April, pointing to a gloomy economic outlook. Consumers are now taking a more pessimistic view of the economy, with less spending planned for the next six months.
GDP growth in the first quarter of 2023 was also weaker than consensus estimates, fueling fears of a downturn as business spending falls and consumers face challenges from high inflation, rising interest rates and banking problems.
The employment cost index, the broadest measure of U.S. labor costs, is still growing rapidly. A separate report on personal consumption expenditures (PCE), the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, strengthened the case for further rate hikes. U.S. personal spending slowed in March, likely as consumers faced challenges from rising prices and higher borrowing costs. If personal spending in the U.S. continues to decline, the economy could survive on personal income alone until it turns into a widely expected recession.
In recent weeks, the cryptocurrency market has experienced a decline in Bitcoin options volatility indicators and leverage, which may lead to lower price volatility in the future. A decrease in the estimated leverage ratio (ELR) also means that the spot market is less sensitive to the derivatives market.
Bitcoin has strengthened its dominance as a safe-haven asset, outperforming gold, commodities and the S&P 500. BTC has also outperformed other crypto assets. Trends in BTC and ETH open interest indicate increased investor confidence and speculation in the price of BTC compared to traditional assets and cryptocurrency alternatives.
Ethereum’s deflationary rate has also risen, causing a rapid decline in supply and potentially driving up its price in the long-term.
In the crypto space, there have been several major developments across the industry.
In South Korea, Terra co-founder Daniel Shin and nine others have been charged by prosecutors and $185 million worth of assets have been seized. Genesis Global has requested a mediator for its bankruptcy proceedings after a group of creditors backed out of a preliminary agreement reached earlier this year. Celsius Network creditors have filed legal action against FTX.
Coinbase made headlines by filing a lawsuit against the SEC, seeking to respond to a rulemaking petition it filed last year.
Finally, the future of First Republic remains up in the air after deposits plummeted. The crisis at regional U.S. banks has made banks increasingly wary of cryptocurrency clients amid heightened regulatory scrutiny, making it difficult for crypto firms to find banking partners.
https://blog.bitfinex.com/bitfinex-alpha/bitfinex-alpha-yield-curve-points-to-recession-as-volatility-subsides-in-btc-markets/
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Bitfinex Lists Sui Network $SUI
Bitfinex has listed the Sui (SUI) token. Deposits for SUI (mainnet) will open on May 2, 2023 at 10:00 PM UTC. Trading of SUI will begin around 12:00 UTC on May 3, 2023.
For more information on Sui, visit https://sui.io.
https://www.bitfinex.com/posts/916
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Bitfinex Lists FLOKI, the Native Utility Token of the Floki Ecosystem
Bitfinex announced the listing of FLOKI, the native token of the Floki Inu ecosystem.
The Floki ecosystem is powered by the community and puts users in control of their finances through four main utility products. This includes the Valhalla NFT Metaverse game, a play-to-earn NFT metaverse game that offers A-grade game elements as well as upgradeable NFTs on the blockchain; the FlokiFi DeFi ecosystem, a suite of decentralized financial products ; the Floki University crypto education platform, which aims to provide crypto education to the masses; and the FlokiPlaces NFT marketplace. The Floki smart contract has passed the Solidity audit.
Additionally, to inspire real-world change, Floki Inu aims to build state-of-the-art schools on every continent. Floki schools have been established in Guatemala, Ghana, Laos and Nigeria.
The FLOKI token powers all four main products of the ecosystem, has a market cap of $321.3 million, and a circulating supply of 9,784,084,264,980 tokens.
Bitfinex will open FLOKI deposits on May 4, 2023 at 10AM UTC. Trading of FLOKI will begin at approximately 10:00AM UTC on May 5, 2023, for the US dollar (USD) and the Tether token (USDt)
https://blog.bitfinex.com/media-releases/bitfinex-to-list-floki-ecosystem-native-utility-token-floki/
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Bitfinex Supports GALA (GALA) Token Migration
Bitfinex will support the GALA (GALA) token migration, scheduled for May 15, 2023, which will improve token functionality, security, and scalability.
https://www.bitfinex.com/posts/917
