As expected, the recent inflation print for April has breathed new life into investors’ risk appetite. Assets across the board—equity indices, gold, and silver—have eked out gains this week. Major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and Ethereum (ETH-USD) are up in the high single digits as well. This optimism promises to spill over into MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) stock with its inclusion in the MSCI index. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s ETF dreams experienced a bit of a dent this week, while Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) is seeing its fair share of hits and misses.
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MSTR’s MSCI Boost
Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy is now more of a crypto play than a software company. Saylor’s religious crypto buying has pushed MSTR’s BTC hoard to nearly 214,300 BTC as of March 31. The company’s share price has rallied by a whopping 427% over the past year, and more gains may be in store as the stock is set to join the MSCI World Index at the end of this month.
COIN’s Hunt for Growth
While MSTR’s fortunes are shining bright, crypto exchange Coinbase seems to be dealt a mixed hand. Earlier this week, the company experienced another platform outage, leading many users to take to social media to vent their ire.
Additionally, a new competitor in the mix, in the form of none other than CME Group (NASDAQ:CME), is sure to weigh on COIN’s fortunes over the coming periods.
COIN, though, is honing in on new demand in the form of Australia’s self-managed pension sector. So far, Australia’s pension sector has pumped in nearly $664 million into crypto investments, and COIN is eyeing a share of the pie with a new service aimed at the segment.
Keep the ETFs Coming
The recent introduction of crypto-focused ETFs in the U.S. has opened the floodgates for similar moves in major markets, including the U.K., Hong Kong, and now Australia. The latter is largely expected to introduce crypto ETFs by the end of this year. Hong Kong, however, has seen a less-than-stellar debut for its crypto ETFs. According to Bloomberg, the six crypto ETFs introduced in Hong Kong nearly two weeks ago have largely experienced capital outflows. Still, the financial hub could see a change in tide in the coming periods, especially with crypto trading banned in mainland China.
Will BTC Go Up or Down?
Meanwhile, the rally in BTC looks set to maintain its momentum with the TipRanks Technical Analysis tool flashing a Strong Buy signal on a weekly timeframe.
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