The Block: Crypto prices continue to tick upward as recession fears grow: the week in markets

Crypto prices continued to rally over the past week while the global macroeconomic environment was worsening.

At the time of writing, bitcoin was trading at $23,739, down 3.1% over the past 24 hours, while ether was at $1,709 according to CoinGecko. Still, both cryptocurrencies were up significantly over the past seven days – ether rose 10%, while bitcoin gained just over 5%.

Prices had contracted earlier in the week as crypto's global market cap dipped below $1 trillion ahead of the US Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates.

After the decision to raise rates by 75 basis points, prices recovered to trend upward, and Thursday's GDP report — in which the US revealed that the economy had declined in the second quarter — was followed by further positive price movement.

Here’s what key players had to say about this week's price action and what to watch for next week:

Crypto is in a 'bizarre no-man’s-land' Cumberland shared its view of the market on Tuesday, saying that digital assets were in a “bizarre no-man's-land" following liquidations in June and impending macroeconomic and crypto-fundamental catalysts coming down the line.

The Chicago-based firm said that other than ethereum’s forthcoming merge, most crypto fundamentals on the horizon are linked to legal and regulatory decisions. However, stablecoin legislation will most likely be delayed for several months, during which the Securities and Exchange Commission's ongoing actions will play a role.

Cumberland's head of trading, Jonah Van Bourg, concluded his thread by saying that “when the macro fog dissipates, capital will pile quickly into the best new trades that emerge. We continue to believe that digital assets will be among the most exciting of these emergent theses.”

The “macro fog” was a reference to turbulent macroeconomic factors around the globe, from US monetary policy debates to the war in Europe to how countries handle the post-pandemic shift.

Market maker QCP Capital said in its update that it expects markets to trade sideways in the coming weeks, with the Fed's interest-rate decision out of the way and inflation slowing.

However, it did note that US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's Asia tour may be cause for concern. Pelosi had planned to visit Taiwan during her tour, which could cause an escalation in US-China tensions.

Earnings season ramping up The biggest earnings news in crypto came from Tesla selling $936 million worth of bitcoin and Meta revealing further losses in its metaverse division.

Here’s more earnings to keep an eye on this week:

Tuesday's schedule contains a plethora of reports, with Coinshares, MicroStrategy and PayPal being of particular interest to crypto investors. The next day, Robinhood — which has been trading publicly for about a year — will share its earnings, even as Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest recently sold just over half a million dollars' worth of HOOD shares.

Tesla will be back in focus later in the week when it holds its annual general meeting. CEO Elon Musk has been in and out of the news all summer since having a bid to buy Twitter accepted, only to attempt to renege on the deal. Crypto investors might also be interested to hear more about why the company sold digital assets and its future plans for any potential crypto payments.

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