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First Mover Americas: BTC Dominance Increases, Binance to Re-Enter India
The latest price moves in crypto markets in context for April 18, 2024.
Updated Apr 18, 2024, 12:20 p.m. Published Apr 18, 2024, 12:18 p.m.
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This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter, putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.
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Bitcoin has become more dominant in the crypto market because of the impending halving and risk aversion in the broader market. The largest cryptocurrency by market value was trading below $61,400 during Asian hours on Thursday, according to CoinDesk Indices data, as the sell-off in risk assets, fueled by difficult macroeconomic conditions, raged. The CoinDesk 20, a measure of the world’s most liquid digital assets, fell 3.3% to 2,125. While bitcoin might be having a challenging moment, layer-1 blockchains and altcoins are doing worse. Top layer-1 tokens like Solana’s are down over 20% in the past week. Avalanche's (AVAX) has fallen 26%, Cardano's 23% and Filecoin 30%.
Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange that was removed from India some months ago, is looking to re-enter the country by paying a $2 million fine, the Economic Times reported on Thursday. Earlier this year, Binance and some other exchanges were removed from the Apple Store in India after India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) sent them compliance "show cause" notices. OKX, KuCoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global and Bitfinex were the other firms that were sent notices at the time.
USDe holders should monitor the project’s reserve fund to avoid risks related to the potential of a negative funding rate, according to data provider CryptoQuant. Ethena Labs, the firm behind the stablecoin, currently offers an annual yield of 17.2%, a rolling average over the past seven days, to investors that stake USDe or other stablecoins on the platform. The yield is created from a tokenized “cash and carry” trade that involves purchasing an asset whilst simultaneously shorting that asset to rake in funding payments. Funding is a way of keeping the asset prices on derivatives exchanges close to the underlying assets. In a bullish market, holders of long positions pay short positions and the opposite is true in a bearish market.
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- Past bitcoin halvings have led to substantial price gains for bitcoin in the subsequent 12 months.
- The chart shows prices soared 1000%, after the first halving, 200% after the second and 600% following the third.
- Source: Glassnode
- Lyllah Ledesma
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
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- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
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- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Shares of the Michael Saylor-led firm had been under pressure not just from weak bitcoin prices, but also the chance that the indexing giant might exclude DATs from its indexes.
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- Strategy (MSTR) shares rose 6% in after-hours trading after MSCI's decision on digital asset treasury companies.
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