Daily News | Global Economic Outlook in Flux and Mixed Crypto Gains, SOL Continues to Skyrocket 18%, SBF Pleads Not Guilty

2023-01-04, 02:19

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## TL; DR

🥂 Good morning, today is **Wednesday, Jan. 04, 2023.**

**Macro:** Asia equities opened higher after US stocks and oil prices fall, raising concerns about the global economy. Meanwhile, the Caixin China PMI falls to five-month low, indicating declining factory activity. In the West, Germany's consumer price inflation falls to 8.6%, while services inflation and rent prices increase

**Crypto:** SBF has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges related to the collapse of FTX and is set to face trial in October. The cryptocurrency market saw mixed gains and losses with BTC and ETH both experiencing slight increases of 0.02%. SOL saw the largest increase at 18.84% after rising nearly 14% yesterday, and GT also rose 3.5%.

****Topic of the Day:**** SpaceX Launches Cryptosat's Crypto2 Satellite, Paving the Way for Secure Cryptography in Space

**Notable Headlines:** US regulatory agencies (The Fed, FDIC and OCC) released a statement on the risks of cryptocurrency; Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in New York; Three Gemini Earn users have filed a request for class-action arbitration against Genesis Global Capital and Digital Currency Group…

## Macro at a Glance

On Wednesday, Asia equities opened modestly higher following a decline in US stocks and the price of oil, which raised concerns about the global economic outlook. The S&P 500 index declined 0.4% on Tuesday, led by energy and technology stocks. The Australian 10-year yield fell 7 basis points after its US equivalent fell 14 basis points to 3.74%.

The dollar index rose by the most in two weeks. Investors are also closely monitoring China, as there are early signs that Covid-19 infections may have peaked in some of its major cities, although there is still significant uncertainty about the trajectory of the pandemic there.

Several European countries have already imposed testing requirements on flights from China. China has threatened to retaliate against countries that impose Covid restrictions on its travelers for "political goals."

Meanwhile, the Caixin China PMI fell to a five-month low, indicating declining factory activity. Output, orders, and export sales decreased, while employment and backlogs fell. Input prices rose and firms lowered selling prices, but sentiment was high due to anticipation of rising output as the pandemic improves.

Looking to the West, Germany's consumer price inflation fell to 8.6% in December, the lowest rate since August. Goods inflation slowed, but services inflation and rent prices increased. Inflation remained above the ECB's target and consumer prices dropped 0.8% in December.

On the other hand, Sam Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges related to the collapse of FTX and is set to face trial in October. The Manhattan US Attorney has announced the formation of a task force of senior prosecutors to handle the investigation.

💡 **Today's Markets at Jan. 04 00:00 UTC**

**BTC** +0.02% at $16,665; **Ether** +0.01% at $1,214.

**Asia: Australia** +0.84%**; Japan** +1.11%; **Hong Kong** +1.84%; **China** +0.88%; **India** +0.19%.

**Europe:** **London** +1.15%; **Paris** +0.44%; **Frankfurt** +0.80%.

**US Spot Indices:** **Dow** -0.03%; **S&P** -0.40%; **Nasdaq** -0.76%.

**US Index Futures: Dow** -0.06%; **S&P** -0.05%; **Nasdaq** +0.03%.

**US Two-year Treasury** down 2bps at 4.380%.

**US Ten-year Treasury** down 8bps at 3.752%.

**UK Ten-year Gilt Bond** down 2bp at 3.652%.

**[US Dollar](https://www.gate.io/trade/USD_USDT) Index** +1.20% at 104.35.

**FX in 24hrs:** GBP: -0.51%; EUR: -1.04%; JPY: -0.48%; CNY: -0.24%.

**Gold** +0.45% at 1,837; **Light** **Crude** -4.28% at 77.12.

🧠 **Catalysts this week**

**Tuesday**: China Caixin Manufacturing PMI, Germany Inflation Rate

**Wednesday**: France Inflation Rate, US ISM Manufacturing PMI, US JOLTs Job Openings, FOMC Minutes

**Thursday**: Japan Consumer Confidence, Germany Balance of Trade, Italy Inflation Rate, Canada Balance of Trade, US Balance of Trade

**Friday**: Eurozone Inflation Rate, US Non Farm Payrolls, US ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI

## Crypto Daily Digest

As US markets reopened, and fell, on the first trading day of 2023, some of the volatility we saw in crypto yesterday has shifted to TradFi. The cryptocurrency market saw mixed gains and losses with BTC and ETH both experiencing slight increases of 0.02%.

Several coins, including BNB, ADA, MATIC, TRX, and UNI, saw small changes in either direction. Meanwhile, SOL saw the largest increase at 18.84% after rising nearly 14% yesterday. XRP, DOGE, LTC, and SHIB saw modest decreases. GT had notable changes and rose 3.5%.

With the Nasdaq falling nearly 0.8% on the day, so did crypto-related tech stocks such as Coinbase shares, which were recently purchased by Cathie Wood's Ark, which were down by 5.06%. Meanwhile, MicroStrategy and Galaxy Digital's shares rose by 2.44% and 3.14%, respectively.

The Grayscale Ethereum Trust hit a record discount of around 60%, and the Grayscale [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) Trust has recently reached record lows and is currently trading at a discount of around 45%.

🌐 **Top 20 Coins Performance**

**BTC** +0.02% at 16,664; **ETH** +0.02% at 1,213.

**BNB** +0.31% at 246; **XRP** -0.97% at 0.343; **DOGE** -1.43% at 0.0704.

**ADA** -0.32% at 0.253; **MATIC** -0.15% at 0.778; **DOT** +0.74% at 4.53.

**TRX** +0.60% at 0.0548; **SHIB** -0.74% at 0.00000813 **LTC** -1.15% at 75.59.

**SOL** +18.84% at 13.32; **UNI** +0.39% at 5.38; **AVAX** +1.96% at 11.37.

**TONCOIN** +0.65% at 2.23; **GT** +3.49% at 3.21.

## Topic of the Day: SpaceX Launches Cryptosat's Crypto2 Satellite, Paving the Way for Secure Cryptography in Space

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket has launched Cryptosat's Crypto2 satellite into orbit, adding to the company's existing constellation of "cryptographically-equipped" satellites.

The launch marks a significant step in the quest for bulletproof cryptography, as Cryptosat looks to expand its computational power in space.

Crypto2 will be used for a range of applications, including data encryption and signed timestamps for smart contracts, as well as generating cryptographic key pairs and releasing private keys at specific intervals.

Cryptosat's first satellite, Crypto1, was launched in May and aims to provide a tamper-proof platform for blockchain applications. Other companies, including SpaceChain and Blockstream, have also turned to space in an effort to validate blockchain transactions and offer multisignature wallets.

With the launch of Crypto2, Cryptosat is well positioned to lead the charge in making space a new frontier for secure cryptography.

If you’d like us to cover any specific token or macro data, feel free to reach out to us by dropping a message in [our Reddit community](https://www.reddit.com/r/GateioExchange/).

## Further Reading

**[Market Trend](https://www.gate.io/blog_detail/1978/)**｜FBI Begins Investigating 3Commas Data Breach; Charles Hoskinson Reveals Upcoming ADA Experiment

**[Gate.io Annual Review in 2022](https://www.gate.io/blog_detail/1970/)** | Rewind and be reminded of the achievements and catastrophes 2022 has brought us.

**[Gate.io Continues Zero-Fee Trading to Support Market Development](https://www.gate.io/blog_detail/1986/)** | The pairs remaining in the zero-fee structure include all /USDT, /USD, /BTC, and /ETH spot market pairs along with BTC/USDT, in addition to all USD-M and BTC-M perpetuals and all delivery futures pairs.

**[Gate Charity Launches New Year NFT Collection for Children's Education in India](https://www.gate.io/blog_detail/1984/)** | The 2023 Gate Charity New Year NFT - India collection will feature 48 unique art pieces hand-drawn by children supported by the Manav Mandir Gurukul, with 1,000 NFTs available to mint.

## Notable headlines

**🔹 US regulatory agencies (The Fed, FDIC and OCC) released a statement on the risks of cryptocurrency.** They identified eight specific risks and warned against holding or issuing it in banking practices. The agencies have taken a case-by-case approach to regulation and are learning about the risks of cryptocurrency.

**🔹 Three Gemini Earn users have filed a request for class-action arbitration against Genesis Global Capital and Digital Currency Group.** They allege, among other things, that Genesis worked with its parent company to hide its insolvency.

**🔹 Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in New York, after the former FTX CEO was extradited from the Bahamas and released on a $250 million bail bond.** Bankman-Fried faces multiple fraud charges and could spend decades in jail if he is convicted.

**🔹 NFT trading volume on Solana last week was the highest since September.** Solana’s Sol has surged more than 15% over the past 24 hours.

**🔹 Security auditing firm Debaub said it found a critical vulnerability in Uniswap’s Univeral Router smart contract that allowed third parties to steal funds during token transfers.** No funds were stolen, and the bug was patched by the Uniswap team. Debaub received a “bug bounty” of $40,000 in USDC for its discovery.

**🔹 [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) miner Riot Blockchain is changing its name to Riot Platforms.** The rebranding shows the company’s “increasingly diversified business operations,” it said.

**🔹 Square Enix will continue to develop its blockchain offerings and invest in promising web3 companies.** It has been one of the most vocal converts to blockchain over the past year, despite grumbling from some fans.

<div class="blog-details-info">
<div>Author:** Peter L.**, Gate.io Researcher
<div class="info-tips">\*This article represents only the views of the researcher and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
<div>\*Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted provided Gate.io is referenced. In all cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.