In February the crypto-asset bull run continued, with Bitcoin hitting a new all-time high ($58,332) before settling back to close the month at $46,526 (+35.4%). The main driver continued to be increasing institutional investor interest, with some help from a few random Elon Musk tweets and the Tesla announcement that it had bought $1.5 billion of Bitcoin. Ethereum and other altcoins had a strong month on continuing interest in decentralized finance (DeFi). Bitfinex and Tether reached a $18.5 million settlement with the New York Attorney General over allegations that they hid the loss of commingled client and corporate funds and lied about Tether’s USDT reserves. India will reportedly go ahead with a complete ban on investment in crypto-assets, and the Central Bank of Nigeria banned all regulated financial institutions from providing services to crypto exchanges in the country.
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* The views expressed herein are those of the author and should not be attributed to the International Monetary Fund, its Executive Board or its management.
