Today in crypto, Bitcoin falls below $90,000, while Bitwise’s Matt Hougan and BitMine’s Tom Lee have tipped a bottom this week, Republic Technologies raised $100 million to build a substantial Ether treasury, and CoinShares reported that crypto investment products experienced their largest outflow of funds since February amid an ongoing period of market panic.
Bitcoin falls below $90K: BitMine, Bitwise execs tip bottom this week
Bitcoin could hit a bottom as soon as this week, according to BitMine chairman Tom Lee and Bitwise Asset Management chief investment officer Matt Hougan, as Bitcoin briefly dropped below $90,000, its lowest price in seven months.
During an interview on Monday with CNBC, Lee said crypto is suffering after the big liquidation event on Oct. 10, and traders are still nervous about whether the US Federal Reserve will cut rates in December.
“I think that’s all creating this downside pressure. But I think the good news is there are signs of exhaustion. I did speak with Tom Demar of Demar Analytics, and he thinks there are signs that would look like a bottom that could be occurring sometime this week,” Lee said.
Hougan agreed that a bottom is incoming soon and also added that current price levels present a “generational opportunity” and a “gift for long-term investors.”
Bitcoin briefly fell under $90,000 on Tuesday, according to CoinGecko, a price last seen in April.
Earlier this week, crypto executives told Cointelegraph that the recent weakness in the cryptocurrency markets was due to a combination of factors, including outflows from exchange-traded funds, long-term sales by whales, and escalating geopolitical tensions.
Republic Technologies secures $100 million for Ether purchase
Republic Technologies — formerly Beyond Medical Technologies — has secured a $100 million convertible note facility to build a substantial Ether (ETH) treasury, using financial terms the company said are unique in the digital asset sector.
The facility carries a 0% interest rate, requires no ongoing interest payments and includes no collateral requirements if the price of Ether declines. Republic emphasized that the raise limits dilution, contrasting it with BitMine Immersion’s recent $365 million financing, which included warrant coverage and resulted in shareholder dilution.
Republic Technologies plans to deploy the capital to expand its Ether treasury strategy, joining at least 18 other publicly traded companies pursuing similar approaches, according to industry data.
Crypto ETPs see biggest weekly outflows since February as investors pull $2 billion
Crypto investment products logged their largest weekly outflows since February, shedding $2 billion as global risk appetite declined.
Crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) saw $2 billion in outflows last week, up by nearly 71% from $1.17 billion recorded the previous week, CoinShares reported on Monday. This marks the third consecutive week of outflows, extending the cumulative outflow streak to $3.2 billion.
CoinShares’ head of research, James Butterfill, attributed the outflows to monetary policy uncertainty and selling by crypto-native whales. As a result, total assets under management (AUM) in crypto ETPs decreased to $191 billion, representing a 27% decline from their peak of $264 billion in October.
The United States accounted for 97% of the outflows, totaling $1.97 billion, while Germany was an outlier with $13.2 million in inflows, bucking the global trend.
While US-based crypto ETPs took most of the hits, the trend was reflected in many other countries.
Switzerland and Sweden recorded outflows of $39.9 million and $21.3 million, respectively. Meanwhile, Hong Kong, Canada and Australia saw combined outflows of $23.9 million.
The outflows hit Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH)-based ETPs the hardest. Bitcoin-based ETPs saw nearly $1.4 billion in funds exiting last week, which is about 2% of their total AUM.