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Blogs, news and announcements – page 19

Andrew FentonMarket update

BTC US$84K. BTC outperforms gold and S&P500 since US election.

After a rocky start, conditions have begun to improve this week. Crypto markets appear mostly driven by macro news at present, and following a significant decline, the S&P 500 had its best day of the year on March 15. This uplift followed news that a deal had been struck to avert the periodic US Government shutdown. But geopolitical risks and recession fears are still weighing heavily and the effects of President Trump's tariff war remain unpredictable. The EU has now imposed retaliatory tariffs on A$43.8 billion (US$28B) of US goods. CryptoQuant's Apparent Demand metric for Bitcoin has dropped to negative 142, while Ethereum is currently trading below its realised price for the first time in two years (the average price people actually bought it for, rather than market price). That said, Bitcoin finishes the week up 4% on seven days ago to trade at A$131,782 (US$84,169), while Ethereum gained 1% to trade at around A$3,033 (US$1,936). XRP got a boost from a new payments license in the UAE and is up 11% while Solana also got a boost from the end of voting on SIMD-228 and is up 8%. Dogecoin gained 11%, and Cardano was up 3%. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is at 32, or Fear.

Andrew FentonMarket update

BTC US$80K. Trump creates Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

Few could have predicted that President Donald Trump would both honour the insanely bullish crypto promises he made during his campaign — including the creation of a Bitcoin reserve — and that crypto markets would tank anyway. But prices are down across the board since January’s inauguration, with Bitcoin down 18.5%, Ethereum falling 35.5% and Solana diving 49.1% (TRON somehow managed to increase 2.9%). As of yesterday, Trump's own crypto project World Liberty Financial had lost more than A$175M/US$110M on paper. The current crash isn’t primarily about crypto, however, with the Nasdaq losing 4% and the S&P 500 closing 2.8 per cent lower on Monday as Trump declined to rule out the possibility of a recession. Adding to the gloom, there's a Friday deadline for an agreement to avert a US government shutdown. Even Trump’s biggest supporters are uncertain where his tariffs and trade war strategy is headed, although podcaster Anthony Pompilano argues that he’s crashing markets deliberately to get interest rates down ahead of the US refinancing A$11.1T/US$7 trillion in debt in the next six months. Bitcoin is down 7% this week to trade around A$126,577 (US$79,625), while Ethereum has fallen another 11% to trade at A$3,000 (US$1,882). Everything else was down, including XRP (-12%), Solana (-15%), Cardano (-19%) and Dogecoin (-20%). While Bitcoin is down around 28% from its peak, Rektcapital points out that BTC has seen four corrections greater than 20% this bull run, with the deepest in mid-2024, retracing 32.8%. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index finishes the week at 20, or Extreme Fear.

Ben RobertsKnowledge base

How to buy Bitcoin and crypto with St George Bank

St.George Bank customers in Australia can securely buy Bitcoin and crypto by making transfers to AUSTRAC registered exchanges such as Independent Reserve, one of Australia’s longest-running and most trusted cryptocurrency exchanges. This guide walks you through creating an account, depositing funds, and purchasing Bitcoin, along with St George’s policies on crypto transactions, and tax considerations.

Andrew FentonMarket update

BTC US$86K. White House to host Crypto Summit.

The election of the first pro-crypto administration in the US is turning out to be a bumpier ride than expected. Markets went on a rollercoaster ride in the past week, with Bitcoin losing around A$18.5K/US$13.45K over four days, before recovering slightly, then spiking higher thanks to President Donald Trump's crypto strategic reserve posts yesterday …. and then retracing almost all of the reserve linked surge overnight. Traditional markets have also been hardened by Trump’s announcement he’s going ahead today with 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada and that he’s doubling tariffs on China to 20%. The Atlanta Fed's volatile GDPNow model suggests US growth is now set to tumble -2.8% this quarter, down from +2.3% last week. Bitcoin finishes the week down 5% to trade around A$138,938 (US$86,279), while Ethereum is down 13% on last week to trade around A$3,462 (US$2,152). Cardano's surprise inclusion in the proposed reserve left it up 29% on last week, and XRP was also up 8% along with Solana Solana (3%). Other coins were down, including Dogecoin (-2%) and Shiba Inu (-9.3%). The Crypto Fear and Greed Index bottomed out at 10 during the week but recovered yesterday to 33 or Fear.

Ben RobertsKnowledge base

How to buy Bitcoin and crypto in Australia with CBA

Commonwealth Bank customers can securely buy Bitcoin and crypto through Independent Reserve, one of Australia’s longest-running and most trusted cryptocurrency exchanges. This guide walks you through creating an account, depositing funds, and purchasing Bitcoin, along with Commonwealth Bank’s policies on crypto transactions and tax considerations.

Andrew FentonMarket update

BTC US$93K. ECB backs DeFi as financial future?

Thanks to the world's biggest-ever crypto hack, sentiment turning on memecoins, tech stocks faltering, and Trump's reported plan to move ahead with tariffs on Mexico and Canada, crypto markets are in retreat. Kaito reports crypto sentiment is back at pre-election levels, the Bitcoin ETFs have lost A$1.46B (US$928.9M) so far in February, and Polymarket foresees just a 10% chance of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve happening in Trump’s first 100 days. On the other hand, the SEC this week dropped a raft of high-profile crypto investigations and lawsuits, and Real Vision founder Raoul Pal points out that Bitcoin saw five pullbacks greater than 28% in 2017, while alts fell more than 65%. "You guys all need to learn patience," he counselled. Bitcoin finishes the week down 3% to trade around A$146,792 (US$92,819), while Ethereum is down 7% to trade at A$4,031 (US$2,562) even after Bybit was forced to buy hundreds of millions worth of ETH to make up for funds lost in the hack. XRP lost 14% while the fallout from the Libra token launch scandal (pumped by snipers and then fell 90% in hours) and billions of unlocks coming up in March have seen Solana fall 19% in a week to its lowest price since October 2024. Dogecoin lost 18%, Cardano lost 16%, and Shiba Inu fell 10.5%. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is at 49 or Neutral.

Ben RobertsKnowledge base

How to buy Bitcoin in Australia with ANZ

ANZ customers can securely buy Bitcoin and crypto through Independent Reserve, one of Australia’s longest-running and most trusted cryptocurrency exchanges. This guide walks you through creating an account, depositing funds, and purchasing Bitcoin, along with ANZ’s policies on crypto transactions and tax considerations.

Andrew FentonMarket update

BTC US$95K. Did Argentina kill alt-season?

Argentina's president Javier Milei's disastrous involvement with the LIBRA coin appears to have been the final straw for some memecoin holders, with a sentiment shift online this week against extractive memecoins and Solana in general. Various unverified estimates are floating around, suggesting memecoins may have extracted up to A$10.4B (US$6.6 billion) from retail buyers. LookOnChain data shows the stablecoin supply on Ethereum surged A$1.73B (US$1.1B) in the past week, while A$1.2B (US$772M) exited Solana. Solana finishes the week down 10.2%, with many meme and AI coins falling much further. Meanwhile, Bitcoin finishes the week down 1.1% to trade around A$150,827 (US$95,827), while Ethereum gained 2% to trade at A$4,323 (US$2,747). ETH has seen a number of false starts to a potential recovery in the past few months. Still, Joel Kruger, a market strategist for LMAX Group, is optimistic there’s "evidence of ETH potentially wanting to finally put in a major bottom against Bitcoin after down trending since 2021.” Closer to home, interest rates are tipped to fall today, with lower rates on savings accounts sometimes encouraging investors to find better returns from more risky assets. XRP gained 8%, Dogecoin (1%), Cardano (13%), while Shiba Inu was flat. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is at 47, or Neutral.