Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rose sharply Wednesday after President Biden announced his anticipated executive order on digital assets. Bitcoin traded as high as $42,597, almost 10% higher, while other cryptocurrencies including ether also climbed higher.
State Street Corp. is partnering with London-based Copper to offer custodial services on cryptocurrencies for institutional customers. Expectations are to have the infrastructure enabling digital wallet safekeeping services available to its institutional clients by the end this year. State Street had $43.7 trillion in assets under custody and administration and $4.1 trillion in assets under management at the end of 2021.
Legislation designed to regulate stablecoins will likely be introduced by US lawmakers this month. As stablecoins have become increasingly scrutinized in recent months, recommendations include requiring that stablecoin issuers must be federally insured depository institutions — more commonly known as banks.
Kraken is preparing an aid package to distribute over $10 million directly to affected clients in support of victims in Ukraine. Starting Thursday, Kraken clients who created an account from Ukraine prior to March 9, 2022 will be eligible to receive $1,000 in bitcoin that can be immediately withdrawn.
Global equities staged an aggressive rebound from the war-induced rout, with European equities notching the biggest rally since March 2020, and U.S. shares jumping the most since June of that year. Dip buyers powered the S&P 500 up 2.6%, with the index still sitting 10% below where it started the year.
Crude futures fell after consecutive days of sharp rises, as the market digests the consequences of bans against Russian crude imports by the U.S. and U.K. Futures fell as much as 7%, posting huge intraday swings, trading within a range of over $9. U.S. inventories fell to the lowest level since November 2014, dropping 5.23 million barrels.
Demand for workers remained close to a record high at the start of the year, despite coronavirus disruptions. The Labor Department said there were 11.3 million job openings in January, down slightly from the previous month’s 11.4 million—a record high.
The central bank of Russia has announced the suspension of the sale of foreign currencies until September 9, amid unprecedented economic sanctions on the country following its invasion of Ukraine.