Bitcoin, Ether Steady After SEC Threatens to Sue Coinbase: Markets Wrap

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Coinbase, allegedly threatening to sue the popular exchange if they launch their forthcoming lending product.

article-image

Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • Private equity firm 10T Holdings raised roughly $750 million for first growth equity funds
  • Solana’s native token was trading at $193.77, up over 13% on-day, as of press time

Despite looming regulatory action on large cryptocurrency platform Coinbase, ethereum and bitcoin remained steady on Wednesday.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Coinbase over their upcoming product, Lend. The SEC intends to sue the company if Coinbase launches the program which allows users to earn interest on lended assets, the popular exchange’s chief executive said in a blog post on Tuesday night.

Bitcoin inched its way back up after Tuesday’s brutal plunge when the digital asset fell 10% in less than an hour, according to Messari. From a 24-hour low of $44,429.29, the largest crypto by market capitalization rose to $46,308.63, as of press time. To reach BTC’s all-time high of $64,654.15, the crypto must climb 31%.

Ethereum tried to pare losses as well, ahead 2% on-day, after experiencing a similar fall on Tuesday. Total crypto market cap remains above $2 trillion, notching $2.04 trillion, as of press time.

In altcoins, Solana’s native token was trading at $193.77, up over 13% on-day. SOL hit an all-time high of $194.82 on Tuesday morning following the launch of FTX’s non-fungible token (NFT) platform.

DeFi

  • Chainlink (LINK) is trading at $27.27, down -3.9% with trading volume at $2,515,064,197 in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.
  • Uniswap (UNI) is trading at $23.5 with a total value locked of $4,835,604,641, declining -3% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET. 
  • DeFi:ETH is 29.8% at 4:00 pm ET.

Crypto

  • Bitcoin is trading around $46,308.63, declining -1.06% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.
  • Ether is trading around $3,479.44, up 1.8% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.
  • ETH:BTC is at 0.075, advancing 2.88% at 4:00 pm ET.

Insight

Juan Aja Aguinaco, co-founder of Shyft, weighed in on financial regulators placing pressure on global crypto platforms.

“Centralized exchanges have three paths in front of them: to comply, to leave the market, or to stay and brace for sanctions,” Aguinaco said. “All three options present substantial challenges [such as] the cost to make the entire operation fully compliant and invest in data protection infrastructure to guarantee users’ privacy, or the cost of blocking an important part of the global crypto market from participating in the product offering.”

Solana (SOL), Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) trading over the past day Source:TradingView

Equities

  • The Dow declined -0.2% to 35,031.
  • S&P 500 is down -0.15% to 4,514.
  • Nasdaq shed -0.57% to 15,286.

Commodities

  • Brent crude was up to $72.66 per barrel, advancing 1.35%.
  • Gold fell -0.4% to $1,791.3.

Currencies

  • The US dollar strengthened 0.22%, according to the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index.

Fixed Income

  • US 10-year treasury yields 1.338% as of 4:00 pm ET.

In other news…

Private equity firm 10T Holdings raised roughly $750 million for first growth equity funds, Blockworks reported on Wednesday.

We are looking out for

  • European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde will hold a press conference after the central bank’s rate decision on Thursday

That’s it for today’s markets wrap. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Are you a UK or EU reader that cant get enough investor-focused content on digital assets?Join us in London on November 15th and 16th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) London. Use code ARTICLE for £75 off your ticket. Buy it now.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

recent research

Research Report Templates.jpg

Research

In this report, each analyst on the Blockworks Research team lays out their highest conviction thesis for 2025.

article-image

Exploring key trends promising to shape crypto in the new year, from Bitcoin DeFi to stablecoins and regulatory clarity

article-image

Framework’s Michael Anderson explains why he thinks energy could be a bigger narrative this cycle

article-image

DFlow put an interesting solution on the table in proposing conditional liquidity to divide toxic from non-toxic order flow

article-image

BlackRock’s BTC guidance gives us a sense of the buying wave that is possible

article-image

Two bitcoin miners make the list thanks to record-high BTC prices and new mining technology

article-image

2024 brought the Bitboy vs. Ansem fight, the SEC getting hacked and memecoin rallies that shouldn’t have happened