First Mover Asia: Hong Kong FinTech Chair Praises Crypto Friendly Policy Statement; Dogecoin Outshines Bitcoin, Ether

Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:

Prices: Dogecoin continued to climb even as bitcoin and ether spent the day in the red.

Insights: The chairman of Hong Kong’s FinTech Association praises the government’s new crypto policy statement.

DOGE Continues Its Late October Surge

By James Rubin

The DOGE days of October continued as the popular meme coin outshone bitcoin, ether and a number of other major cryptocurrencies in Monday trading.

Dogecoin was recently up more than 1% over the past 24 hours to continue its late-month surge, and was recently trading at about 12 cents. DOGE, which was created to mock the speculative nature of cryptocurrencies, spiked late last week as billionaire entrepreneur and DOGE advocate Elon Musk neared the completion of his $44 billion purchase of Twitter. Over the past four days Musk has asserted his control over the social media platform. On Monday, he ousted Twitter’s nine-person board.

As CoinDesk analyst Glenn Williams wrote, DOGE’s price fluctuations seem to stem from the power of Musk’s personality and a passionate dogecoin community than the macroeconomic indicators that have been influencing bitcoin, ether and other cryptos over the past 12 months. DOGE’s rise may correlate with excessive liquidations and a likely short squeeze, and the token may offer a shorting opportunity, Williams wrote.

Bitcoin (BTC) spent Monday in the red and was recently down about 0.8% from Sunday, same time, although the largest cryptocurrency by market value remained comfortably over the $20,000 perch it assumed last week. Ether was down similarly over the same period and was changing hands above the $1,500 level that the second-largest crypto assumed a week ago.

“Some traders are growing confident that a bottom is in place, options market activity is showing the need for downside protection is easing,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst for foreign exchange market maker Oanda. “This will be a pivotal last two months of the year that should trigger a move outside of the $17,500 and $25,000 trading range.”

The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI), a broad-based market index that measures the performance of a basket of cryptocurrencies, recently rose 0.4% over the past 24 hours.

In traditional markets, the tech-heavy Nasdaq, Standard & Poor’s 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) all closed lower, although the indexes enjoyed a strong month amid faint hopes the U.S. Federal Reserve will ratchet back its hawkish monetary policy early next year. Investors will be eyeing the latest Federal Open Market Committee interest rate hike, which is widely expected to be a robust 75 basis points.

By James Rubin

Hong Kong’s Fintech Association chairman offered a rousing endorsement of a policy statement suggesting that retail investors would have more access to digital assets and seemed to point the city in a more crypto friendly direction.

“Now Hong Kong is back inside of the game, Neil Tan, who is also CEO of the blockchain startup Neptune Digital, told The Daily Forkast in an interview. “And that retail piece does play a huge piece. If you look at the exchanges and market capitalizations, a lot of it drives from the retail side.”

In the policy statement released Monday at Hong Kong FinTech Week, the government’s main financial agency, the Financial Services and Treasury Bureau (FSTB), indicated it would conduct a public consultation on how retail investors might attain a “suitable degree of access to virtual assets” to licensed exchanges. The FSTB said it was reconsidering its stance on virtual asset exchange traded funds (ETF) and tokenized securities, and that it was “ready to engage” with global virtual asset service providers and invite them to the city.

Earlier this year, as part of a move to tighten anti-money laundering regulations, the Hong Kong government moved to license virtual asset service providers (VASP) via a legislative proposal that passed its consultation period. The city’s main securities regulatory group, Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), would be provided with “necessary intervention powers” to impose restrictions or even prohibitions on companies providing crypto services.

Institutional interest

Tan also noted the desire for more institutions “to have more coverage into digital assets,” and he praised the timing of the policy statement’s release.

“You’re introducing it inside the winter, so there’s little risk in terms of downside,” he said. “There’s a lot more upside. Everybody else has shown their cards such as Dubai and also Singapore in terms of what the regulatory framework will look like in these jurisdictions.”

He added: “Hong Kong is in a strong position. We want to build a championship team. We want to to go to the NBA final and win a championship.”

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In case you missed it, here is the most recent episode of “First Mover” on CoinDesk TV:

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