Hong Kong saw the launch of six new spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Tuesday, in a debut that saw combined trading volumes of around HJ$49.4 million, equivalent to $6.3 million, during the morning session.

Circle's USD Coin (USDC) has surpassed Tether’s USDT, the world's largest stablecoin, in monthly transaction volumes, according to on-chain analytics from Visa, which show USDC reached 166.6 million transactions in April 2024, surpassing Tether's 163.6 million.

Nasdaq-listed business intelligence firm MicroStrategy has reported a net loss of $53 million for the first quarter of 2024 after taking an impairment change against the value of its roughly $13 billion worth of Bitcoin holdings.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Hong Kong’s Spot Bitcoin, Ether ETFs See Modest Volumes
• Circle's USDC Overtakes Tether’s USDT in Monthly Transaction Volumes
• MicroStrategy Records $191.6 Million Impairment Loss on Bitcoin Holdings
• Stablecoins Trading Volume on Centralized Exchanges Reaches All-Time High

Hong Kong’s Spot Bitcoin, Ether ETFs See Modest Volumes

Hong Kong saw the launch of six new spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Tuesday, in a debut that saw combined trading volumes of around HJ$49.4 million, equivalent to $6.3 million, during the morning session.

China Asset Management's Bitcoin fund, the ChinaAMC Bitcoin ETF, led the pack, recording HK$22.97 million in turnover by midday. The firm's Ether ETF followed closely behind, registering HK$10.47 million in trading volume.

In comparison to the newly launched cryptocurrency ETFs in Hong Kong, the first day of trading for the eleven spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in the United States in January saw a combined volume of approximately $4.6 billion.

China Asset Management, however, reported strong investor interest during the initial offering period for its ETFs as subscriptions reached HK$1.1 billion (US$140.5 million), with the Bitcoin product attracting HK$950 million and the Ether ETF securing HK$160 million.

Circle's USDC Overtakes Tether’s USDT in Monthly Transaction Volumes

Circle's USD Coin (USDC) has surpassed Tether’s USDT, the world's largest stablecoin, in monthly transaction volumes, according to on-chain analytics from Visa, which show USDC reached 166.6 million transactions in April 2024, surpassing Tether's 163.6 million.

USDC has been steadily chipping away at Tether's dominance since late 2023. In December of that year, USDC transactions surpassed USDT’s for the first time, recording 145 million compared to USDT’s 127 million.

Tether remains the undisputed leader in terms of market capitalization, boasting over $110 billion compared to USDC's $33.5 billion, while also maintaining a wider user base, with over 34.2 million unique wallets utilizing the stablecoin in April 2024, compared to USDC's 9.57 million.

Visa's data paints a broader picture of the stablecoin market. The four stablecoins tracked by Visa, including USDC, USDT, Paxos Standard (USDP), and PayPal USD (PYUSD), saw over $2.3 trillion in total transaction volume within the past 30 days over 352 million individual transactions.

MicroStrategy Records $191.6 Million Impairment Loss on Bitcoin Holdings

Nasdaq-listed business intelligence firm MicroStrategy has reported a net loss of $53 million for the first quarter of 2024 after taking an impairment change against the value of its roughly $13 billion worth of Bitcoin holdings.

The loss stems from an accounting rule that requires companies to record the value of digital assets like Bitcoin at current market prices and stops them from being able to recognize positive performance. Since MicroStrategy did not adopt this new rule for the first quarter, it was forced to record a $191.6 million impairment loss on its holding of 214,278 BTC.

This accounting treatment overshadows the cryptocurrency's price increase of nearly 67% in the first quarter, significantly outpacing the broader market. The company's core business, enterprise software, also saw a decline, with revenue falling 5.5% to $115.2 million, missing analyst expectations.

MicroStrategy has continued to add to its Bitcoin holdings over the first quarter of the year, purchasing an additional 25,250 Bitcoins since the end of December.

Stablecoins Trading Volume on Centralized Exchanges Reaches All-Time High

Fueled by Bitcoin's record highs, trading volume for stablecoins on centralized exchanges surged 98.9% in April to a record $2.18 trillion. The dramatic increase coincided with the heightened volatility experienced in the cryptocurrency market, as Bitcoin reached new all-time highs for the first time this cycle in March.

Tether’s USDT, the world's leading stablecoin, continues to dominate trading activity on centralized exchanges, maintaining a significant market share of 77.5% among the top 10 stablecoins by market capitalization.

Dig deeper into the stablecoin sector through CCData’s latest Stablecoins & CBDCs report.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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