Cryptocurrency prices are experiencing minor declines as the trading week begins in Asia, with Bitcoin up 0.3% to $29,415 and Ether down 0.6% to $1,869. The market appears to have digested an exploit in the Curve stablecoin exchange without further contagion, with BlockSec preliminarily estimating total losses to be above $42 million. “The coin usually tends to trade as if it were a tech stock,” said Gene Hoffman of the Chia Network. “There’s no real force to break things one side or the other.” Markus Thielen, head of research and strategy at Matrixport, suggested traders switch from bitcoin to bullish call options due to low volatility. “This allows locking in the year-to-date gains for bitcoin, while the call option exposure allows participating in any upside rally,” he said.
Meanwhile, Russia’s share of bitcoin mining rose when China banned the industry, and now mining is booming in the country. Bitmain and MicroBT are positioning themselves to reap the benefits, with more machines flowing into Russia than anywhere else in the world.