Bitcoin climbed nearly 1% to back above $27,000 ahead of the U.S. government’s Nonfarm Payrolls report set to release at 8:30 AM ET. On Thursday, stocks continued to move higher as the debt ceiling drama mostly moved into the rearview mirror, and gold inched upward, with some analysts predicting the jobs report might push the metal back above $2,000. Coinbase Derivatives Exchange, the regulated futures offering by crypto exchange Coinbase, will offer Bitcoin and Ether tracked futures for institutional clients starting June 5. Stablecoin issuer Tether’s USDT has hit an all-time high market capitalization, surpassing its previous peak from a little more than a year ago.
Top-performing digital assets include Quant Network (QNT), which gained 16% over the last seven days, and The Graph (GRT), which gained 14% in the same period. Coinbase said it created these products to cater to increased institutional demand following the issuance of its nano Bitcoin (BIT) and nano Ether (ETI) contracts last year. The BTI and ETI futures contracts, sized at 1 Bitcoin and 10 Ether per contract, respectively, will be settled in U.S. dollars monthly, and let institutional traders hedge market bets, express long-term market views, or utilize the products in complex trading strategies.
As the week draws to a close, the total stablecoin market capitalization dropped to $130 billion in May from nearly $200 billion in early 2022. However, Tether’s milestone is particularly significant as it runs counter to the 14-month shrinkage in the broader stablecoin market.