Stay up to date with our monthly crypto overview:

• The crypto markets continued to struggle in June, fueled by troubles at large centralized crypto lenders.
• Bitcoin and Ether are down -38.45% and -45.51%, respectively.
• The top outperformer among the leading crypto assets in June was Bitfinex’s exchange token, LEO.

Crypto Market Overview June 2022

The crypto asset market continued its downward trend in June, driven by bankruptcy concerns at some of the market’s leading digital asset lenders.

On June 13, Celsius Network, one of the largest centralized crypto lending companies, announced that it had halted withdrawals, preventing its customers from accessing the funds they had deposited with the lender. Rumors immediately started circulating that the company was close to insolvency, pushing the crypto markets lower.

Moreover, concerns arose that other crypto lenders might be facing similar difficulties, which were confirmed when Hong Kong-based Babel Finance halted withdrawals four days later, citing “unusual liquidity pressures.”

The liquidity issues in the crypto lending market have prompted crypto investors to hit the sell button, which has resulted in a 30% to 40% drop in asset values across the market, with Bitcoin dropping below the $20,000 mark for the first time since late-2020.

Bitcoin’s drop was exasperated by yet another rejection of a spot Bitcoin ETF by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The rejected Bitcoin ETF was filed by Grayscale Investments, which responded to the rejection by filing a lawsuit against the SEC.

Crypto Asset Performance Review

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June was another challenging month for crypto asset investors as markets were rocked by the unfolding liquidity issues in the crypto lending markets. As a result, downward pressure continued on crypto assets, resulting in leading assets like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Binance Coin (BNB) dropping by 38.45%, 45.51%, and 31.04%, respectively.

This month’s outperformer has been Bitfinex’s exchange token, LEO, which closed the month 13.91% higher. The UNUS SED LEO celebrated its one-year token burn anniversary and launched a competition for LEO holders, spurring interest in the popular exchange token.

While the crypto markets experienced another down month, stocks didn’t fare much better. U.S. stocks, measured by the S&P 500, lost 7.7% in value month-on-month to end the worst first half of the year since 1970.

U.S. Treasuries dropped by -0.79%, while the value of Gold (XAU) dropped by -3.64% to hit a five-month low of $1,794 per troy ounce.

Institutional Interest in Crypto

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Despite the bear market, institutional interest in crypto has not waned as Bitcoin’s institutionalization continues on Wall Street.

French bank Societe Generale announced that it has partnered with Swiss crypto provider Metaco to develop the bank’s crypto subsidiary SG FORGE. This partnership will focus primarily on security tokens in anticipation of the upcoming EU pilot regime covering regulated security tokens.

In a recent research paper, titled “PropTech: Towards a Frictionless Housing Market?”, Wall Street giant Citigroup commented on the rising popularity of crypto-backed mortgages, stating that “a new crypto-adjacent mortgage product has gained prominence” that allows “​​crypto investors to utilize their investment gains to secure a loan without incurring the tax event.” The report also suggests that similar mortgage products could soon exist for buyers of virtual land in the metaverse. While Citigroup doesn’t (yet) offer such products, the bank’s interest in them shows its willingness to explore innovative, crypto-powered financial products.

The New York Community Bank announced that it will act as a custodian for assets backing the dollar-backed stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC). Circle, the issuer’ behind USDC, and the New York Community Bank also plan to work jointly on “low-cost financial solutions for underserved and unbanked communities.”

Bitcoin on Balance Sheets

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Nasdaq-listed MicroStrategy has purchased an additional 480 BTC, according to an announcement by company CEO and Bitcoin advocate Michael Saylor. The coins were acquired at an average price of $20,817, which brings the technology company’s total Bitcoin holdings to 129,699 BTC.

The “Bitcoin nation” El Salvador has also added to its Bitcoin position, buying 80 BTC at $19,000, according to a tweet from President Nayib Bukele. The central American country reportedly now holds 2,301 BTC in its treasury.

 

About Iconic Funds

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