Every week, Amdax summarizes what's happening in the crypto market for you. Want to learn more? Click through for further insights. 

This newsletter is a co-production with our partner Bitcoin Alpha.

Market Update 

Stay informed in three steps:

1. The $100,000 Mark Doesn’t Go Down Without a Fight
   Early Thursday morning, at around 3:30 AM Dutch time, the long-awaited moment arrived: Bitcoin broke the legendary $100,000 mark. However, it didn’t stay above that level for long. By Thursday evening, the price had fallen from $104,000 to $92,000. The drop from $98,000 to $92,000 occurred within minutes, driven by forced liquidations of many leveraged positions.
   
2. Ether and Altcoins Open the Week in the RedOn Monday, Ether and several altcoins experienced similar movements. Investors speculating with leverage on price increases were squeezed out of their positions, triggering a wave of sell-offs that pushed prices further down. Ether fell by just over 10% on Monday, while many altcoins dropped more than 20%. Such corrections are not unusual after weeks of significant price increases and are typical of a healthy bull market.
   
3. Positive Inflows Continue for U.S. Crypto Funds
   Despite the red numbers for Bitcoin and Ether at the start of the week, the inflows into U.S. ETF products remained strong. Ether funds had their best week ever, with $836 million in inflows. This trend continued on Monday and Tuesday, with around $450 million flowing into spot Ether ETFs.

News Overview

Signal out of the noise:

• Russian Lawmaker Proposes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
  Anton Tkachev, a member of Russia's State Duma, has proposed establishing a national Bitcoin reserve to counter economic sanctions and safeguard financial stability. This proposal comes shortly after positive remarks about Bitcoin by President Vladimir Putin, highlighting Bitcoin’s potential as a solution to geopolitical and economic challenges.
• MicroStrategy Adds More Bitcoin to Its Balance Sheet
  Michael Saylor’s company has acquired an additional 21,550 Bitcoin, worth approximately $2 billion. With this purchase, MicroStrategy now holds a total of 423,650 Bitcoin, around 2% of the total Bitcoin supply that will ever exist.
• Council of State Urges Dutch Government to Revise Tax Proposal
  The advisory body has recommended scrapping the new proposal to tax wealth based on actual returns. It argued that the plan is too complex for taxpayers and the Dutch Tax Authority, placing an undue burden on self-management and administration for 1.6 million taxpayers. Holders of volatile assets, such as Bitcoin, could be unfairly taxed on price peaks even if they later incur losses.
• Altcoins and DeFi Also Breaking Records
  In addition to Bitcoin, BNB, TRX, and SUI reached new price records, with FTM hitting its highest point since April 2022. DeFi platforms also showed growth, with total value locked hitting its highest level in 31 months. Fireblocks reported that institutional players generated $60 billion in DeFi transactions via the platform this year, a 150% increase. CoinMarketCap’s index even declared an altseason last week.
• Interest in Spot Solana ETFs Grows, But Launch Awaits New Administration
  Grayscale is the fifth applicant for a Solana fund, joining VanEck, 21Shares, Bitwise, and Canary. The company aims to convert its Solana Trust (GSOL) into an ETF, as it previously did for Bitcoin and Ether. Insiders suggest the applicants should wait for the new administration to take office: under Biden, the funds are unlikely to be approved. “A farewell gift from Gary Gensler, I’d say,” commented ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

The Take from Amdax

The $100,000 milestone for Bitcoin has been reached but proves to be a challenging hurdle. As expected, many investors took profits at this level, preventing Bitcoin from staying above $100,000 for long. However, the sustained interest in U.S. Bitcoin and Ether funds suggests that the upward trend is likely to continue in the near term.

In een interview met Into Business vertelt Lucas Wensing (Amdax CEO) het verhaal achter de oprichting van Amdax en hoe het bedrijf is uitgegroeid tot een baken van vertrouwen in de cryptomarkt. Hoe blijf je groeien en innoveren in een stormachtige markt, en hoe creëer je een duurzame toekomst?

Lees het interview met Lucas hier.