First Mover Americas: Bitcoin Battered as Markets Spiral

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CoinDesk Market Index (CMI): 924 −8.9%

Bitcoin (BTC): $19,856 −8.2%

Ether (ETC): $1,392 −9.0%

S&P 500 futures: 3,916.25 −0.1%

FTSE 100: 7,751.62 −1.6%

Treasury Yield 10 Years: 3.92% −0.1

Investors sold stocks, especially shares of banks, and other risky assets ahead of the U.S. jobs report on Friday. Bitcoin has lost 9% over the last 24 hours, dropping below $20,000, a level the cryptocurrency hasn’t fallen below since mid-January. On Thursday, $250 million in long positions in bitcoin was liquidated, according to data from Coinglass. The wider crypto market also fell on Friday, after a week of interest-rate fears and the collapse of crypto-focused Silvergate Bank.

Crypto exchange Huobi has created a $100 million liquidity fund to protect against precipitous drops in its HT token, in response to the token suddenly falling 93% on Thursday. Justin Sun, founder of the Tron blockchain and a large HT holder, confirmed a transfer of $100 million. The rapid drop and then rebound was caused by "leveraged liquidation on the market caused by a few users," according to a tweet by Sun.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James sued KuCoin on Thursday, alleging the Seychelles-based crypto exchange is violating securities laws by offering tokens – including ether – that meet the definition of a security without registering with the attorney general’s office. The suit is the first time a regulator has claimed in court that ether is a security.