Business News

Bears extend reign to crypto market, drops by about 50%

Bitcoin made further drastic losses sinking below $6,000 for the first time since May 2019 due to a coronavirus scare.

Published

4 months ago

March 13, 2020

Olumide Adesina

Bears extend reign to crypto market, drops by about 50%, Answering the big Bitcoin question - buy, sell or hold?, Why cryptocurrencies are falling lately, Nigerians passion for bitcoin, Bulls push Bitcoin pass $7200 level, Bitcoin breaks past $7500 for the first time since early March, Nigerians Beware Of Bitcoin Fraudsters

Bitcoin once tagged as a ‘safe haven’ asset, has recently proved bookmakers wrong again. On March 12, Bitcoin made further drastic losses, sinking from $10,000 to below $6,000 for the first time since May 2019 due to coronavirus scare.

At its current price of $5,500 on Friday, 03.05 pm Nigerian time, bitcoin seemed attractive to buy. However, investors’ bias was broken with heightened uncertainty in the global economic outlook.

Bitcoin users rise in Nigeria despite Senate, CBN campaign against it

A pile of bitcoins

For these reasons, we can expect that the current bounce towards $6,000 might be a temporary relief on the way down.

However, the sudden drop comes after months of stable price growth, which saw Bitcoin rose from below $6,000 at the start of the year to above $10,000 by late February.

Chief Executive Officer, BitMEX, an exchange registered in Seychelles, Arthur Hayes thinks that the likely bottom for Bitcoin lies at around $6,000. As the flagship token suffered from the spread of the coronavirus, altcoins took a more severe hit with heavy losses seen across the board.

The latest crash appears to dispel this narrative, as it coincided with the sharpest rise in coronavirus-related deaths since the outbreak began.

Bitcoin bearish party seems to be utterly unstoppable. The selling pressure has been unrelenting on Thursday and could last throughout the day’s trading sessions. Data by CoinMarketCap shows that the market cap lost over $17 billion from the $223 billion recorded on Wednesday to $335 billion at the time of writing.

The reported trading volume is, however, on the rise, from $136 billion to $144 billion in the same period. Intriguingly, Bitcoin dominance has increased from 64% to 65.6%, to show that altcoins led by Ethereum have taken a huge plunge.

On Twitter, CEO, Invest Diva, Kiana Danial, explained that the current development witnessed in the industry went contrary to the general belief of the market. According to him, the market is usually insulated from global threats like coronavirus.

He said, “What happened have left many disappointed, as the digital currency has not been acting as the ‘safe haven’ it promised to be”.

The dramatic loss in value mirrored the drop in stocks as well as crude oil, with the main markets reacting to further bad news about the coronavirus epidemic. In addition, global uncertainty suggests investors’ desire to close positions in risky assets such as cryptocurrency.

Denis Vinokourov, Head of Research for London-based digital asset firm, Bequant, stated on Forbes Magazine that the crypto market had declined “sharply” in the last 24 hours, with bitcoin falling more than 20% in an environment characterized with worries about coronavirus.

Another factor is the U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest travel restrictions and panic-driven selling witnessed in the market. He noted that the desire of investors to sell off their holdings triggered “a liquidity crunch as the cost of capital spiked up across crypto exchanges.”

In addition, President Trump, on March 11, banned travel for most of Europe to the United States and the equities markets reacted with further lows. These drastic measures might have resulted in steep losses that leave the traders in the cryptocurrencies markets clueless of what will happen next.

Bitcoin

Furthermore, from a short term view, the impact of the global economy is very indecisive but bitcoin is currently trading like a risk on the asset. Despite having a negative correlation earlier, the cryptocurrency market may continue to fall in tandem with the global equities market and other leading assets apart from Gold.

However, we still believe in the long term fundamentals of bitcoin as an asset. At the moment, not many large financial institutions are investing in bitcoin or crypto assets, However, when there is regulatory and settlement risk, this will change. Once that happens, bitcoin will be on a par or overtake gold as the safe-haven asset.

Olumide Adesina

Olumide Adesina is a French-born Nigerian. He is a Certified Investment Trader, with more than 15 years of working expertise in Investment Trading. A member of the Chartered Financial Analyst Society. Financial Market; Yale University, Behavioral Finance; Duke University. You can follow Olumide on twitter @tokunboadesina or email ol[email protected]

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Companies

Deap Capital Management & Trust Plc reacts to ‘rumoured’ AMCON takeover

AMCON had dragged the company before a Court in a bid to recover the debt.

Published

48 mins ago

July 13, 2020

Emmanuel Abara Benson

Deap Capital Management & Trust Plc has reacted to media reports about the supposed takeover of its assets by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON.

In a statement that was signed by the Company Secretary, Yetunde Fashesin-Sousa, Deap Capital admitted that it is indebted to AMCON to the tune of N1.6 billion. It was also confirmed that AMCON owns a 20% equity stake in the fund management firm.

Note that the indebtedness arose after AMCON took over ownership of certain banks. Apparently, these are banks that Deap Capital originally owed. However, following the transfer of the unnamed banks’ assets to AMCON, the debts were also transferred alongside.

Meanwhile, AMCON had dragged the company before the Federal High Court in Lagos in a bid to recover the debt. A ruling on the case, which was delivered on January 28 by the Hon Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, was in AMCON’s favour.

Following the ruling, AMCON began the process of recovering the debt from Deap Capital Management & Trust Plc. The company said it has been cooperating in this regard by working towards repaying the debt.

The company also clarified that the assets that were taken over by AMCON belonged to its former directors whose names were not mentioned. Nairametrics could not verify if these directors are among those who were recently reinstated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC. But we do know that AMCON had obtained a court order to attach the ‘former directors’ assets’ in its attempt to recover the N1.6 billion debt.

In the meantime, Deap Capital Management & Trust Plc said it is committed to resolving its operational challenges, including the recovery of its operational license and profitability issues. The company’s latest earnings report (for its Q1 period ended December 31st, 2019) showed a total income of N1 billion. There was also a N6.3 million loss for the period under review.

Deap Capital’s stock opened today’s trading session on the Nigerian Stock Exchange with a share price of N0.30. Year to date, the stock has declined by some -18%.

Entertainment

How to get creative sector loan from the CBN, Bankers Committee

The bank will then discuss, analyze your request and if successful will disburse the funds.

Published

6 hours ago

July 13, 2020

Chike Olisah

How to get creative sector loan from the CBN, Bankers Committee

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee, has outlined how to get the creative sector loans.

Both parties developed a Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI) as part of efforts to boost job creation in Nigeria, particularly among youths in the country. The initiative has four pillars which include Fashion, Information Technology, Movie and Music.

It would be recalled that last year, the CBN in conjunction with the Bankers’ Committee unveiled the Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI), which was to enable businesses to obtain loans up to the tune of N500 million.

Interested applicants in the creative industry are advised to submit their applications to their banks for approval and subsequent disbursement.

How to benefit from the Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI): The categories of businesses to benefit from this include Fashion, Information Technology, Movie Production, Movie Distribution, Music and Software Engineering Student Loan.

Part of the steps in applying for the loan is to prepare your business plan or statement on how much you want for your business.

You can get a loan of up to:

N3 million for a Software Engineering Student
N30 million for a Movie Production business
N500 million for a Movie Distribution business
Cover your rental/service fees for Fashion and Information Technology businesses
Cover your training fees, equipment fees and rental/service fees for Music business

After preparation of the business plan stating how much is needed for the business, applicants are advised to go to any bank of their choice to apply for the loan.

The bank will then discuss, analyze your request and if successful will disburse the funds. It must be noted that the maximum interest rate of 9% per annum (all charges inclusive) is applicable to all loans.

The period for the repayment of the loan in the different categories are:

For Software Engineering Student Loan, it is a maximum of 3 years
For Movie Production and Distribution, it is a maximum of 10 years
For Fashion, Information Technology (IT) and Music, it is a maximum of 10 years.

For more information, you can visit www.cbn.gov.ng

Coronavirus

COVID-19 Update in Nigeria

On the 12th of July 2020, 571 new confirmed cases and 16 deaths were recorded in Nigeria.

Published

12 hours ago

July 13, 2020

Research Team

The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria continues to record significant increase as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 32,558 confirmed cases.

On the 12th of July 2020, 571 new confirmed cases and 16 deaths were recorded in Nigeria, having carried out a total daily test of 2,973 samples across the country.

To date, 32,558 cases have been confirmed, 13,447 cases have been discharged and 740 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 181,248 tests have been carried out as of July 12th, 2020 compared to 178,265 tests a day earlier.

COVID-19 Case Updates- 12th July 2020,

Total Number of Cases – 32,558
Total Number Discharged – 13,447
Total Deaths – 740
Total Tests Carried out – 1781,248

According to the NCDC, the 571 new cases were reported from 20 states- Lagos (152), Ebonyi (108), Edo (53), Ondo (46), FCT (38), Oyo (20), Kwara (19), Plateau (17), Osun (14), Bayelsa (14), Ekiti (14), Katsina (14), Akwa Ibom (11), Kaduna (11), Rivers (11), Niger (10), Ogun (7), Kano (6), Cross River (4), Bauchi (2).

Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 12,427, followed by Abuja (2,576), Edo (1,731). Oyo (1,726), RIvers (1,368), Delta (1,359), Kano (1,309), Ogun (1,087), Kaduna (989), Ondo (716), Katsina (669), Ebonyi (616), Borno (586), Plateau (533), Gombe (530), Bauchi (521), Enugu (476), Abia (405), Imo (386), Kwara (330).

Jigawa state has recorded 321 cases, Bayelsa (313), Osun (245), Nasarawa (244), Sokoto (153), Akwa Ibom and Niger (135), Benue (121), Adamawa (110), Anambra (93), Kebbi (86), Zamfara (76), Ekiti (63), Yobe (62), Taraba (27), Cross River (9) while Kogi state has recorded 5 cases only.

Lock Down and Curfew

In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.

The movement restriction, which was extended by another two-weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.

On Monday, 29th June 2020 the federal government extended the second phase of the eased lockdown by 4 weeks and approved interstate movement outside curfew hours with effect from July 1, 2020.

Date	Confirmed case	New cases	Total deaths	New deaths	Total recovery	Active cases	Critical cases
July 12, 2020	32558	571	740	16	13447	18371	7
July 11, 2020	31987	664	724	15	13103	18160	7
July 10, 2020	31323	575	709	20	12795	17819	7
July 9, 2020	30748	499	689	5	12546	17513	7
July 8, 2020	30249	460	684	15	12373	17192	7
July 7, 2020	29789	503	669	15	12108	17012	7
July 6, 2020	29286	575	654	9	11828	16804	7
July 5, 2020	28711	544	645	11	11665	16401	7
July 4, 2020	28167	603	634	6	11462	16071	7
July 3, 2020	27564	454	628	12	11069	15867	7
July 2, 2020	27110	626	616	13	10801	15693	7
July 1, 2020	26484	790	603	13	10152	15729	7
June 30, 2020	25694	561	590	17	9746	15358	7
June 29, 2020	25133	566	573	8	9402	15158	7
June 28, 2020	24867	490	565	7	9007	14995	7
June 27, 2020	24077	779	558	4	8625	14894	7
June 26, 2020	23298	684	554	5	8253	14491	7
June 25, 2020	22614	594	549	7	7822	14243	7
June 24, 2020	22020	649	542	9	7613	13865	7
June 23, 2020	21371	452	533	8	7338	13500	7
June 22, 2020	20919	675	525	7	7109	13285	7
June 21, 2020	20242	436	518	12	6879	12847	7
June 20, 2020	19808	661	506	19	6718	12584	7
June 19, 2020	19147	667	487	12	6581	12079	7
June 18, 2020	18480	745	475	6	6307	11698	7
June 17, 2020	17735	587	469	14	5967	11299	7
June 16, 2020	17148	490	455	31	5623	11070	7
June 15, 2020	16658	573	424	4	5349	10885	7
June 14, 2020	16085	403	420	13	5220	10445	7
June 13, 2020	15682	501	407	8	5101	10174	7
June 12, 2020	15181	627	399	12	4891	9891	7
June 11, 2020	14554	681	387	5	4494	9673	7
June 10, 2020	13873	409	382	17	4351	9140	7
June 9, 2020	13464	663	365	4	4206	8893	7
June 8, 2020	12801	315	361	7	4040	8400	7
June 7, 2020	12486	260	354	12	3959	8173	7
June 6, 2020	12233	389	342	9	3826	8065	7
June 5, 2020	11844	328	333	10	3696	7815	7
June 4, 2020	11516	350	323	8	3535	7646	7
June 3, 2020	11166	348	315	1	3329	7522	7
June 2, 2020	10819	241	314	15	3239	7266	7
June 1, 2020	10578	416	299	12	3122	7157	9
May 31, 2020	10162	307	287	14	3007	6868	7
May 30, 2020	9855	553	273	12	2856	6726	7
May 29, 2020	9302	387	261	2	2697	6344	7
May 28, 2020	8915	182	259	5	2592	6064	7
May 27, 2020	8733	389	254	5	2501	5978	7
May 26, 2020	8344	276	249	16	2385	5710	7
May 25, 2020	8068	229	233	7	2311	5524	7
May 24, 2020	7839	313	226	5	2263	5360	7
May 23, 2020	7526	265	221	0	2174	5131	7
May 22, 2020	7261	245	221	10	2007	5033	7
May 21, 2020	7016	339	211	11	1907	4898	7
May 20, 2020	6677	284	200	8	1840	4637	7
May 19, 2020	6401	226	192	1	1734	4475	7
May 18, 2020	6175	216	191	9	1644	4340	7
May 17, 2020	5959	388	182	6	1594	4183	7
May 16, 2020	5621	176	176	5	1472	3973	7
May 15, 2020	5445	288	171	3	1320	3954	4
May 14, 2020	5162	193	168	3	1180	3815	4
May 13, 2020	4971	184	164	6	1070	3737	4
May 12, 2020	4787	146	158	6	959	3670	4
May 11, 2020	4641	242	152	10	902	3589	4
May 10, 2020	4399	248	142	17	778	3479	4
May 9, 2020	4151	239	127	11	745	3278	4
May 8, 2020	3912	386	118	10	679	3115	4
May 7, 2020	3526	381	108	4	601	2818	4
May 6, 2020	3145	195	104	5	534	2507	1
May 5, 2020	2950	148	99	5	481	2370	4
May 4, 2020	2802	245	94	6	417	2291	2
May 3, 2020	2558	170	88	2	400	2070	2
May 2, 2020	2388	220	86	17	351	1952	2
May 1, 2020	2170	238	69	10	351	1751	2
April 30, 2020	1932	204	59	7	317	1556	2
April 29, 2020	1728	196	52	7	307	1369	2
April 28, 2020	1532	195	45	4	255	1232	2
April 27, 2020	1337	64	41	0	255	994	2
April 26, 2020	1273	91	41	5	239	994	2
April 25, 2020	1182	87	36	3	222	925	2
April 24, 2020	1095	114	33	1	208	855	2
April 23, 2020	981	108	32	3	197	753	2
April 22, 2020	873	91	29	3	197	648	2
April 21, 2020	782	117	26	3	197	560	2
April 20, 2020	665	38	23	1	188	466	2
April 19, 2020	627	86	22	2	170	436	2
April 18, 2020	541	48	20	2	166	356	2
April 17, 2020	493	51	18	4	159	317	2
April 16, 2020	442	35	13	1	152	277	2
April 15, 2020	407	34	12	1	128	267	2
April 14, 2020	373	30	11	1	99	263	2
April 13, 2020	343	20	10	0	91	242	2
April 12, 2020	323	5	10	0	85	228	2
April 11, 2020	318	13	10	3	70	238	2
April 10, 2020	305	17	7	0	58	240	2
April 9, 2020	288	14	7	1	51	230	2
April 8, 2020	274	22	6	0	44	226	2
April 7, 2020	254	16	6	1	44	204	2
April 6, 2020	238	6	5	0	35	198	2
April 5, 2020	232	18	5	1	33	194	2
April 4, 2020	214	5	4	0	25	185	0
April 3, 2020	209	25	4	2	25	180	0
April 2, 2020	184	10	2	0	20	162	0
April 1, 2020	174	35	2	0	9	163	0
March 31, 2020	139	8	2	0	9	128	0
March 30, 2020	131	20	2	1	8	121	0
March 29, 2020	111	22	1	0	3	107	0
March 28, 2020	89	19	1	0	3	85	0
March 27, 2020	70	5	1	0	3	66	0
March 26, 2020	65	14	1	0	2	62	0
March 25, 2020	51	7	1	0	2	48	0
March 24, 2020	44	4	1	0	2	41	0
March 23, 2020	40	10	1	1	2	37	0
March 22, 2020	30	8	0	0	2	28	0
March 21, 2020	22	10	0	0	1	21	0
March 20, 2020	12	4	0	0	1	11	0
March 19, 2020	8	0	0	0	1	7	0
March 18, 2020	8	5	0	0	1	7	0
March 17, 2020	3	1	0	0	0	3	0
March 16, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 15, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 14, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 13, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 12, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 11, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 10, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 9, 2020	2	1	0	0	0	2	0
March 8, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 7, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 6, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 5, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 4, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 3, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 2, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 1, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
February 29, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
February 28, 2020	1	1	0	0	0	1	0