Hong Kong looks set to launch Asia’s first inverse futures product. According to a new report by ARK Invest, Bitcoin was significantly oversold after the German government offloaded billions’ worth of confiscated BTC. Meanwhile, a global Microsoft Windows failure, possibly linked to a CrowdStrike software update, has disrupted critical services worldwide.
Hong Kong to launch Asia’s first inverse Bitcoin ETF
On July 23, Hong Kong will see the launch of Asia’s first Bitcoin futures inverse product, the CSOP Bitcoin Future Daily (-1x) Inverse Product (7376.HK).
The new exchange-traded fund (ETF) by CSOP Asset Management — one of the largest asset managers in China — aims to offer investors a method of profiting from declines in the price of Bitcoin BTCUSD.
This development follows the successful launch of the CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF (3066.HK) in December 2022, continuing the firm’s expansion in the Asia-Pacific region.
The CSOP Bitcoin Futures Daily (-1x) Inverse Product is designed to offer investment results that correspond closely to the inverse daily performance of the S&P Bitcoin Futures Index.
This inverse product achieves this through a futures-based replication strategy, which invests directly into spot-month Chicago Mercantile Exchange Bitcoin Futures.
According to a CSOP company post on July 22, the product is set to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) with a listing price of approximately 7.8 Hong Kong dollars per unit.
Bitcoin could recover from oversold levels: ARK Invest
Asset manager ARK Invest says Bitcoin BTCUSD became significantly oversold in June after the German government initiated a multiweek sell-off of 50,000 BTC that was seized in a 2020 police sting. That means a price reversal is likely.
The asset manager also said that Bitcoin miners are in capitulation mode, which is a sign that the downtrend is about to reverse.
“Based on short-term-holder realized profits/losses and miner outflows, Bitcoin appears oversold,” ARK said in its report, which focused on the period through June 30 but includes more recent data. “Current levels [of miner outflows] suggest that miners are capitulating, a harbinger of a bullish reversal.”
Adding to the bullish momentum is the fact that spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds accumulated capital during the sell-off, a sign that institutional investors weren’t behind the negative price action.
The price of Bitcoin has rallied sharply this week. On July 19, the largest cryptocurrency traded above $67,200, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView.
Microsoft Windows data blackout downs major financial firms, causes travel chaos
The Big Tech giant Microsoft is facing a widespread outage of its Windows systems, which has subsequently disrupted various critical services across the globe, including emergency services, banks, airports and broadcasters.
The failure, which began in the late hours of July 18 and continued into the following day, appears to be linked to the cybersecurity software of CrowdStrike, according to a Forbes report. It has left many institutions grappling with severe operational challenges.
In a post on X on July 18 at 11:41 pm UTC, Microsoft 365 Status posted that it was investigating an issue “impacting users ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.”
The banking sector has been one of the hardest hit by this Windows failure. Online banking services have been particularly affected, with customers worldwide reporting issues with logging in and performing transactions.
Nonetheless the crypto community has wasted no time in jumping on the opportunity to make something of the situation.
Since the start of the incident, a flurry of new memecoins related to CrowdStrike, the alleged cause of the Microsoft outage, and the Microsoft “Blue Screen of Death” (BSoD) error screen have been issued on Ethereum and Solana networks.
Additional reporting by Felix Ng, Sam Bourgi and Geraint Price.
