Gold has shown an accelerating trend in recent days, strongly breaking through the 3400 mark, with an increase of over 30% since January this year.
It can be seen that global funds are currently dominated by safe-haven sentiment, and the only physical asset with strong safe-haven attributes is gold.
Although no one can predict the peak of gold at this stage, the funds that previously flowed into gold were mainly for safe-haven purposes, but there has recently been a trend of retail investors investing in gold at high prices.
It is worth mentioning that Bitcoin, known as 'digital gold,' has also been steadily rising recently, breaking through $88,000 yesterday. This represents an increase of nearly 20% from the low of $74,500 on April 7.
In recent days, despite the downward trend of U.S. stocks, Bitcoin has still risen against the trend, showing initial signs of decoupling from U.S. stocks.
Meanwhile, JD Group, which entered the stablecoin market last year, has recently announced the latest news:
JD Group has initiated a stablecoin issuance plan through its subsidiary JD Coin Chain Technology (Hong Kong), launching a cryptocurrency JD-HKD pegged 1:1 to the Hong Kong dollar. The project is currently in the 'stablecoin issuer sandbox' testing phase under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and will officially issue after the regulatory legislation is in place.
Issuance Mechanism:
1: JD-HKD is developed based on the Ethereum public chain, supported by sufficient reserves of Hong Kong dollars, allowing users to exchange 1:1 for Hong Kong dollars at any time with no fees, aiming to ensure price stability.
2: Unlike dollar stablecoins like Tether (USDT), JD-HKD focuses on localizing the Hong Kong dollar, serving Hong Kong and cross-border payment scenarios.
Strategic Objective:
1: Cross-border Payments: Optimize global supply chain settlement efficiency and reduce fees (traditional cross-border remittance costs reach 6.3%, while stablecoin costs are only about 0.001%).
2: Ecological Integration: In the future, it will connect with the JD e-commerce system, supporting scenarios such as commodity trading and supply chain finance, enhancing user stickiness.
Compliance Layout:
1: Hong Kong as a pilot, relying on its open cryptocurrency regulatory policy. JD plans to apply for licenses in different regions (such as requiring local companies in the EU) to ensure global compliance.
2: Collaborating with Tianxing Bank under Xiaomi to explore cross-border payment solutions.
So, will the cryptocurrencies that have been in a downward trend for several months this year welcome a reversal, favored by funds that have nowhere to go or are overflowing, as a safe-haven asset?
First of all, last year, when individuals officially entered the cryptocurrency market, it was under the premise that Bitcoin was entering through U.S. stock ETFs and Hong Kong was vigorously developing Web3; with U.S. stocks about to enter a cyclical bear market, there was optimism for cryptocurrencies as a new pool of dollar liquidity, welcoming a large influx of funds.
At the same time, the A-share market is moving against the trend during the U.S. interest rate hike cycle, holding onto both A-shares and cryptocurrencies.
For cryptocurrencies to meet the above conditions, they must maintain independence and decouple from U.S. stocks, unaffected by their cyclical downward trends. Unfortunately, since the peak of U.S. stocks, Bitcoin has yet to show a divergence trend from U.S. stocks.
Until recent days, the overly singular safe-haven asset of gold was pushed to high positions, and Bitcoin has risen against the trend, slightly revealing a tendency to no longer follow U.S. stocks.
However, against the backdrop of gold's fierce upward momentum, Bitcoin's initial decoupling trend seems a bit forced, merely pushed to the forefront due to necessity; essentially, it does not possess a strongly consensual safe-haven attribute.
The trend has already occurred, and it should not be forced to bear personal judgment. One should always understand their starting point while observing or following the trend.
It should be made clear that although Bitcoin currently shows safe-haven attributes and has signs of further increases, the extent of the dollar's decline may still be far from enough to drive a full recovery in the crypto market. It still needs to decline further to force more dollar liquidity into the crypto space.
Therefore, hoping for a full recovery in the crypto market still requires further observation.
