First Mover Asia: Influencer Logan Paul’s ‘Bumblebee’ NFT Is Worth More Than $10; Bitcoin Dips Late but Remains Over $19K

The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization spent much of the day trading sideways before a late dip took it down roughly 2% over the past 24 hours and recently trading at $19,050. BTC has held steady between $19,000 and $19,500 for much of the past four days as investors wait for convincing evidence that inflation is slowing meaningfully – or not.

This Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) is widely expected to show a slight decrease from last month’s 8.3 reading, hardly enough to sway current U.S. central bank, monetary hawkishness and allay fears of a harsh recession. Both events would hurt riskier assets, including crypto.

Equity markets continued their now four-day streak of woe with the tech-focused Nasdaq declining 1% and the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropping a few fractions of a percentage point. The Nasdaq, which plunged into bear market territory months ago, meaning it fell at least 20% from its previous high, reached a 15-month low, according to Dow Jones Market data.

Treasury yields, which have followed an inverse course to cryptos, rose. Brent crude oil, a measure of energy markets, was recently trading at about $96 per barrel, roughly flat, despite the latest rumblings from Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine – a Russian missile barrage on Kyiv and other major cities. The conflict continues to figure heavily in global, macroeconomic uncertainty. Concerns about Chinese consumer spending and U.S. cuts in semiconductor exports to the country offered additional, unsettling news Monday.

“Our algorithm calculates what is the price of an NFT, which is consistent with the historical sales data. It is not precisely predicting, but finding a price that makes sense for the current market conditions. This methodology allows the investor to evaluate how good the trade price is, while also assessing the importance of the sale within the collection’s market,” a DappRadar spokesperson told CoinDesk earlier via email.

Crypto markets started the week down as market observers await new economic reports this week: September’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), corporate earnings and the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook. Opimas CEO and founder Octavio Marenzi joined the markets discussion. Binance Chief Communications Officer Patrick Hillmann joined “First Mover” with the latest following last week’s $100M exploit. First Mover previews CoinDesk’s I.D.E.A.S. 2022 conference on the future of crypto and Web3 investments.