First Mover Asia: Traders Long on Bitcoin Despite Debt Ceiling Challenges, Dark U.S. Regulatory Clouds

Good morning.

Here’s what’s happening:

Prices: Despite market uncertainties affecting bitcoin and ether prices, traders in Asia remain optimistic due to clearer regional cryptocurrency regulations.

Insights: GrumpyCat, a meme coin, is set to face legal confrontations due to its unauthorized use of trademarks. Being a meme coin doesn’t absolve it from the duties and liabilities inherent in traditional business operations.

Bitcoin and ether are both in the red as the East Asia trading day begins. Bitcoin is down 1.9% to $26,882, while ether is down 0.89% to $1,805.

A lot is weighing heavy on bitcoin, with macroeconomic uncertainty continuing to bother traders.

But Coinglass data shows that traders in Asia remain optimistic towards the asset class. Right now, traders are mostly in long positions, with 53.62% long and 46% holding shorts.

Liquidation data also favors the longs. Coinglass shows that $7.3 million in short positions were liquidated in the last four hours compared to $1.57 million in longs.

Traders seem to be even more bullish on ether, as 90% of liquidations were shorts, at $3.36 million, versus $361,000 in longs.

It could be because the regulatory situation in Asia is a bit more clear than in the U.S. Singapore has a framework for regulating crypto. Imperfect as it is, it exists. Hong Kong will have licensed crypto exchanges online by mid-year. Even Taiwan, known as a financial hub, will have a framework in place sometime in 2023.

Rulebooks, even if they aren’t perfect, create certainty. It’s much better for business than making things up “on the fly.”

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