Bitcoin surged nearly 5% on Wednesday, reaching just shy of $26,800, as traditional markets rallied and the U.S. dollar sold off. Institutional cryptocurrency exchange LMAX Digital noted that trading volume has been trending up over the week, with Bitcoin volumes printing $173 million and Ether volumes printing $92 million – both figures being above the 30-day average. Cryptocurrencies were able to benefit from the traditional markets, said LMAX.
Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX is looking to hire Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital as an advisor, according to court filings made late Wednesday evening. FTX is hoping to return funds to creditors in fiat currency rather than Bitcoin or Ether, and is looking to hedge and stake its sizable crypto holdings to avoid denting the value of its more than $3 billion in crypto.
Binance is discontinuing its crypto-backed debit card in Latin America and the Middle East, according to a post on Twitter by its customer support team on Thursday. The card has been in use in Latin America for one year, and will be discontinued on September 21.