In less than half an hour, nearly $67 million worth of leveraged long positions were liquidated at the event of US President Joe Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 election. As per Coinglass, a cryptocurrency markets platform, a steep fall of 2.3 per cent of Bitcoin to dollar 65,880 was one of the trigger points that caused substantial liquidations between 5:30 pm and 6 pm UTC on July 21. However, the fast recovery of Bitcoin to $68,480 left traders exposed to short positions with leveraged positions worth approximately $34 million.
According to Markus Thielen, founder of digital currency company 10x Research, "Biden wasn't credible enough to beat Trump, hence another candidate who could have limited Trump's chances…But there isn't any credible alternative…hence BTC pump." According to him, it was the 'huge' buy order that contributed to the market's steep recovery at the same time.
As of 10:00 AM UTC, over $43.8 million in Bitcoin, $31.1 million in Ether, and $8.6 million in Solana had liquidated, wiping out more than $81.1 million and $53.4 million in long and short positions, respectively. Events in the cryptocurrency market saw Binance liquidated the most at $64.5 million, followed closely by OKX at $44 million. It marked the highest combined liquidation of $134.5 million within a 12-hour window since July 8.
US Bitcoin ETFs Hit All-Time High With $17 Billion Flowing In
US Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds have seen over $17 billion in net inflows setting a new record based on figures from Farside Investors. This huge jump stems from BlackRock's IBIT, which brought in $18.968 billion, and Fidelity's FBTC, which added $9.962 billion more.
On the other hand, Grayscale's GBTC witnessed a huge net outflow of $18.694B billion only, which again was a quintessential example to prove that investors were finding their home in these very products. As of July 17, 11 US Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a cumulative daily net inflow of $53.35 million, continuing their winning streak for nine days with net inflows. This figure was, however, way lower than the $422 million net inflow on July 16. BlackRock's IBIT led the park with $110.37 million in net inflows and $1.21 billion trading volume. Fidelity's FBTC was the only other fund that had positive net inflows of $2.83 million on July 17.
While Grayscale's GBTC and Bitwise's BITB had net outflows of $53.86 million and $6 million respectively, seven others including ARK Invest and 21Shares' ARKB did not record inflows for the day.
South Korea's New Crypto User Protection Regulations Come into Force
South Korea's so-called "Virtual Asset User Protection Act" came into force on July 19 with a set of new regulations governing crypto user protection. Virtual asset service providers have now been asked to implement a few measures to protect users' crypto assets, according to a July 17 statement by the Financial Services Commission.
Key measures include purchasing insurance to protect customers against hacking and malicious attacks, ensuring that customers' crypto assets are segregated from those of the exchange itself, and ensuring that customer deposits are securely held in banks. In front of AML, VASPs shall have strict anti-money laundering measures, and alert the regulator in case of suspicious transactions.
"VASPs should always monitor suspicious transactions and report suspicions regarding trading activities promptly to the Financial Supervisory Service," added the FSC, saying that violations could be punishable by criminal penalties or financial surcharges after investigation. Though protectively intended, crypto exchanges from South Korea voiced their concerns about possible mass delistings. As reported by Cointelegraph on July 3, 20 exchanges will review 1,333 cryptocurrencies for half a year. The Digital Asset Exchange Alliance, however, does not think so.
In a related development, the ruling People's Power Party has recommended that imposing taxes on crypto trading profits should be delayed, given the deteriorating sentiment toward crypto assets. According to a proposal on July 12, rapid imposition of tax is "not advisable at this time."
