Musk tanks BTC

Good morning! Welcome to The Daily Moon. The worst is over, if you go by Sam Bankman-Fried’s words. He says that the crypto market has already reached its rock bottom and may not fall further. The FTX CEO is planning to raise more capital. But don’t take SBF at face value. “It’s not financial advice,” he claims. 

The markets wiped off its gains, with Bitcoin below $23,000 and Ethereum sliding to ~$1,500 levels. Nasdaq was shaky in early trade, after the ECB hiked rates after 11 years. Back home, Sensex and Nifty managed to hold on to their gains. 

Musk Dumps BTC

ICYMI, Tesla sold Bitcoin worth $936 million last night. And that announcement meant Bitcoin prices tanked 4%. One could imagine that Tesla would make some sales but this was close to 75% of its holdings. Crypto investors are questioning if Elon Musk, Tesla’s founder, still believes in the idea or was it just for Twitter. To be fair, Twitter’s favourite user clarified that his company is “open” to buying Bitcoin in the future. 

The final trigger Tesla, MicroStrategy, and Block took a $5 billion hit on their Bitcoin holdings. With China imposing fresh Covid lockdowns in Q2, Tesla claimed it wanted cash to deal with uncertainty. Musk claimed that liquidity was the sole reason for the selloff. 

It’s not a big dealAnalysts aren’t worried. With an economic slowdown possibility in the US, it’s expected that companies will move towards fiat currency. That means more crypto selloffs to add cash to the books. 

For the recordAs for Musk, there’s no guarantee if he’ll buy it back. Musk has made promises on Twitter, which he has failed to keep. In May 2021, Musk promised that “Tesla won’t sell any Bitcoin”. It did. Musk said he would give the UN $6 billion if it showed him a plan to fight world hunger. The UN released a plan, Musk ghosted. And Musk famously also wanted to buy Twitter. Less said about that the better. 

Is Vauld Bankrupt Too? 

Vauld wants “protection” from creditors. The crypto lender has sought immunity from repayments. It owes $402 million to creditors, of which 90% are retail investors. But the Nexo deal is still on.  

What’s up with them?It is close to bankruptcy. Creditors are at its doorsteps and Vauld wants “breathing space”. A potential acquisition by Nexo may solve its financial issues. Meanwhile, there’s no word on resumption of withdrawals.  

Ripple has fansWhile we are in crypto-trouble territory, Ripple and the US SEC are at it again. The regulator wants Ripple’s XRP token holders to be barred from helping the crypto exchange in the case. 

FYI: Ripple and SEC are fighting a case over XRP tokens. The token will be regulated just like stocks if termed a security, something that Ripple doesn’t want. 

Banks Save The Day

IndusInd Bank’s stellar profit was good news for the stock market. The bank stock rose ~8%, and triggered a 284 point rise in Sensex. Nifty Bank saw a 228 point increase with a surge in IndusInd Bank, SBI, Federal Bank and Axis Bank.

Profits are inThe Q1 profits of IndusInd jumped 64% to Rs 1,603 crore, compared to a year ago. Bad loans fell. The bank was the biggest earner on Sensex and Nifty in morning trade on July 21. 

SBI’s stock price rose too, on the back of a board approval for its Rs 11,000 crore fund-raise plan. Federal Bank hit a 52-week high after a good Q1 performance. 

Some caution existsForeign investors have re-entered Indian stocks. But the fall in rupee, which closed at Rs 79.85 against the US dollar, is a concern. All eyes on the July 27 US Fed interest rate announcement. 

South Korea’s Home Invasion  

The Terra investigation has reached people’s homes. South Korean authorities barged into people’s homes to investigate Terraform Labs, whose stablecoin Terra crashed in May. 

Tell us the truthTerraform Labs’ founder Do Kwon and several employees are under the scanner following the Terra-Luna crash. South Korea has raided seven crypto exchanges, including Upbit and Bithumb, to gather information about what happened. Close to 200,000 South Koreans incurred losses due to the crash. 

Intentional fraud and possible defects in the algorithm are being probed. South Korea and the US will also share data on the Terra meltdown. 

FWIWSouth Korea isn’t against crypto. It has deferred a 20% crypto tax proposal to 2025. 

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Who are we? There is a lot happening in our world. Everything has layers, and each layer has to be carefully peeled so you, the reader, know how the world of money is changing every day. That’s our promise. Help you unpeel the onions, which are the public markets in the US, India, and crypto, so that you know just a little more.