Bitcoin, Ether rise; Deutsche Bank to provide crypto custody services

Bitcoin, Ether rise; Deutsche Bank to provide crypto custody services

Time Stamp: September 14, 2023 8:40 PM
Source Node: 2880627

Bitcoin rose on Friday morning in Asia to trade above US$26,500. Ether also moved higher to over US$1,600. All other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies gained with Tron network’s TRX token leading the winners with a 24-hour rise of over 3%. The rise in crypto prices coincided with an announcement from Deutsche Bank that said the largest German lender would provide crypto custody services. U.S. stock futures edged up after Wall Street closed higher on Wednesday following strong economic data from the U.S.

Bitcoin, Ether gain; Deutsche Bank news pumps optimism into crypto markets

Bitcoin rose 1.49% in the last 24 hours to US$26,610.48 as of 07:30 a.m. in Hong Kong and went up 1.60% for the week, according to CoinMarketCap data. The world’s largest cryptocurrency reclaimed US$26,774.62 on Thursday evening, the highest price since Aug. 31.

Bitcoin’s rise this week “coincides with a noticeable return in investor sentiment,” Samer Hasn, market analyst at Australia-based global multi-asset broker XS.com, said in an emailed comment.

By the end of Wednesday, open interests in Bitcoin derivatives reached about 7.525 billion — its highest levels since Aug. 31, and the same applies to Ether open positions that reached around 3.7 billion, said Hasn, citing data from blockchain intelligence platform CryptoQuant.

Ether gained 1.38% to trade at US$1,629.33 but was still down 0.95% for the past seven days.

The crypto market received a boost from news that Deutsche Bank — a German lender that had US$1.4 trillion in total assets at the end of 2022 — will launch custody services for cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets of institutional customers in a partnership with Swiss fintech firm Taurus, according to a Thursday press release.

“As the digital asset space is expected to encompass trillions of dollars of assets, it’s bound to be seen as one of the priorities for investors and corporations alike. As such, custodians must start adapting to support their clients,” Paul Maley, global head of securities services at Deutsche Bank, said in the announcement.

“Deutsche Bank’s recent announcement to offer crypto custody services is a positive step towards a growing acceptance and development of crypto in the mainstream financial sector. It could also be potentially providing a renewed sense of confidence among investors,” said John Stefanidis, chief executive officer and co-founder of blockchain infrastructure decentralized organization, Balthazar DAO.

All other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies posted gains in the past 24 hours. Tron’s TRX led the winners, which rose 3.46% to US$0.08388 and added 6.15% for the week.

Meanwhile, the positive sentiment came amid regulatory battles in the U.S., as the SEC earlier this week charged Stone Cats 2 — the company behind the “Stoner Cats” animated series — with conducting an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). 

Back in July 2021, Stone Cats 2 sold 10,000 NFTs for US$800 each to fund the Stoner Cats series. The firm has agreed to a cease-and-desist order and will pay a civil penalty of US$1 million.

The total crypto market capitalization gained 1.27% in the past 24 hours to US$1.06 trillion, while trading volume edged up 3.00% to US$28.28 billion.

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