First Mover Asia: What’s Next After Bitcoin’s Retreat

Good morning.

Here’s what’s happening:

Prices: Analysts take a look at what comes next after last week’s downturn in bitcoin and ether prices.Insights: Taylor Swift showed common sense in asking the sort of critical questions of FTX that any business negotiation should include, CoinDesk columnist David Morris suggests.Prices

CoinDesk Market Index (CMI)

1,208
+9.6 ▲ 0.8%

Bitcoin (BTC)

$27,779
+230.4 ▲ 0.8%

Ethereum (ETH)

$1,875
+18.9 ▲ 1.0%

S&P 500

4,133.52
+3.7 ▲ 0.1%

Gold

$1,994
+14.4 ▲ 0.7%

Nikkei 225

28,564.37
−93.2 ▼ 0.3%
BTC/ETH prices per CoinDesk Indices, as of 7 a.m. ET (11 a.m. UTC)

Crypto markets complete round-trip after big rally. What comes next?

The big story in crypto markets last week was that ether (ETH), turned lower, erasing all price gains notched during the weeks-long mini-rally that followed the seamless implementation on April 12 of the Ethereum blockchain’s highly anticipated Shanghai upgrade. Bitcoin (BTC) reversed course as well, losing its foothold above $30,000 and changing hands around $27,800 around press time.

According to Joe DiPasquale, CEO of BitBull Capital, technical signals found in bitcoin’s price chart still look encouraging.

«A healthy retest of the support zone between $25K to $27K is a positive sign for a continued move up,» DiPasquale told CoinDesk in an email. «As long as Bitcoin manages to stay above $22K, in the worst case, we can expect more upward action.»

InsightsWhat Taylor Swift Can Teach You About Investing

Angry victims of the FTX swindle are looking for restitution from the celebrity spokespeople who pitched the failed exchange, in a lawsuit that names Larry David, Tom Brady and Shaquille O’Neill, among others. One name not on that list is Taylor Swift, who was offered a reported $100 million sponsorship deal with the offshore crypto exchange – but dodged embarrassment and potential legal fallout by exercising some basic skepticism.

Swift reportedly asked FTX representatives, “Can you tell me that these [listed assets] are not unregistered securities?” in the course of negotiations, which ultimately failed. That’s according to Adam Moskowitz, the plaintiff’s lawyer in the FTX endorsements suit, speaking to The Block’s Frank Chaparro. Moskowitz describes learning about the incident in the discovery phase of the suit, and I haven’t seen confirmation from Taylor Swift’s camp.

This article is excerpted from The Node, CoinDesk’s daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news. You can subscribe to get the full newsletter here.

But even if it’s a bit of a just-so story, there’s a wealth of wisdom in this little parable. It wouldn’t be the first time Swift showed herself to be a brilliant and sharp-elbowed businesswoman on top of her musical talent – for instance, having muscled her way free of an onerous publishing deal.

The lesson of her FTX adventure, though, is a bit more abstract than it seems. Swift’s question about unregistered securities was remarkably prescient, given that we’re now seeing aggressive regulatory crackdowns on crypto exchanges. She has, it seems, been paying attention. But selling unregistered securities was not what brought FTX down – old-fashioned fraud was the culprit. Swift did not, it seems, ask FTX representatives “is your management team secretly sending user assets to an affiliated hedge fund?”

How, then, might her securities law question, largely unrelated to the risk that ultimately manifested, have led Swift to shy away from going into business with FTX? I’m speculating here, but one likely scenario is that she or her people weren’t satisfied with the way FTX handled this and other questions. For instance, maybe Bankman-Fried or his representatives were confused or uncoordinated or defensive – all useful signs of an organization that may have deeper problems. (Or maybe the Swift camp didn’t appreciate FTX’s boy wonder playing “League of Legends” during their meeting.)

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