For crypto, things are going as expected, according to Standard Chartered Bank, which reiterated its April forecast that bitcoin would reach $100,000 by the end of 2024. The bank's Geoff Kendrick and team wrote the next catalyst will be the approval of several U.S.-based spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF). “We think a number of spot ETFs will now be approved in Q1-2024 for both BTC and, paving the way for institutional investment,” they said. The team also noted that the next Bitcoin ‘halving’ – a mechanism to limit supply and expected to take place in late April 2024 – will be another source of price upside.

Standard Chartered building (Chengting Xie/Unsplash)

Digital Currency Group (DCG) and Genesis Global have reached a repayment plan to settle their lawsuit, according to a new bankruptcy filing. In September, lending firm Genesis filed a lawsuit against DCG, alleging wrongful possession of over $620 million in loans and seeking repayment, interest, and fees amid Genesis' ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. So far, DCG has paid approximately $227.3 million of the $620 million it owes. The deal would see DCG pay another $275 million to Genesis in three installments, partially in U.S. dollars and bitcoin, due by April. The deal also includes a $35 million upfront payment and a $10 million holdback from the recent sale of CoinDesk. According to the filing, DCG is also pegging Grayscale Trust shares as security. The deal still needs to be approved by creditors.

The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission is warning users in the country that it may soon block access to Binance as the exchange is operating without a license. In a notice, the regulator said that Binance is not authorized to sell or offer securities to the public. The regulator also said Binance is actively promoting crypto trading to Filipinos on social media, an offense that may make the promoter criminally liable. Binance recently agreed to pay U.S. authorities $4.3 billion to settle charges that it failed to maintain a proper anti-money laundering program, operated an unlicensed money-transmitting business, and violated sanctions law.

A message from Paypal

Bitcoin broke above the $38,000 level in Asian morning hours on Wednesday as hopes around a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval were revived earlier this week, and traditional market watchers expected rate cuts.

Solana’s [SOL] tokens led gains among layer-1, or base, blockchains, jumping some 8% in the past 24 hours to reverse losses from the past week. Avalanche’s AVAX bumped 6.6%, while

Cardano’s [ADA] and Tron’s [TRX] rose over 5%. The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI), a broad-based index that tracks the crypto market, rose over 2.5%.