First Mover Americas: Crypto Remains Resilient as Japan, UK Slip Into Recession
The latest price moves in crypto markets in context for Feb. 15, 2024.

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.
Latest Prices

Top Stories
Bitcoin (BTC) rose 1.5% on Thursday as two of the world's largest economies said they slipped into recession at the end of last year. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, added a similar amount. Impressive inflows into spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are persuading analysts to anticipate a bull cycle in the next 1-2 years. Cryptocurrencies tend to remain resilient even as global economies struggle. The U.K.'s Office for National Statistics said gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 0.3 percent in the last three months of 2023. Japan lost its spot as the world’s third-largest economy to Germany after the nation unexpectedly slipped into a recession.
The ether price rose through $2,700 for the first time since May 2022 as traders bet on the possibility of a spot ETH exchange-traded fund approval in the U.S., a move that could boost its institutional appeal. As of Thursday, Franklin Templeton, BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark and 21Shares, Grayscale, VanEck, Invesco and Galaxy, and Hashdex, had all submitted applications for an ether ETF. The firms already offer spot bitcoin ETFs, which were introduced mid-January. Since then, the funds have accumulated $11 billion worth of BTC and helped propel the price of the largest cryptocurrency through $52,000.
One of the world's largest telecommunication services providers, Telefónica (TEF), is partnering with decentralized oracle network Chainlink
Chart of the Day

- The chart shows the probability of a global economic recession based on key indicators like consumption, employment, manufacturing, finance and raw materials.
- The recession probability has dropped to 22%, the lowest since December 2021.
- Dwindling recession fears support risk-taking across all corners of the financial markets, including cryptocurrencies.
- Source: MacroMicro
- Omkar Godbole
Trending Posts
Больше для вас
Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

Что нужно знать:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Fidelity's Jurrien Timmer: Expect lame 2026 as four-year bitcoin cycle appears intact

The director of global macro at the asset management giant remains a secular bull on bitcoin, but isn't optimistic about the next year.
What to know:
- A number of notable market analysts of late have dismissed the idea of bitcoin's four-year cycle and the nearly certain bear market that might imply.
- Fidelity's Jurrien Timmer, however, says the action so far this time around lines up about perfectly with past four-year cycles and the current bearish action should last deep into 2026.











