Human civilization doesn’t get much more ancient than China, whose history dates back more than 5,000 years and whose global influence can be seen in everything from how people govern to what they eat.

China was among the earliest civilizations to mint coins, with some specimens created more than two millennia ago. You aren’t likely to come across one of those outside of a museum. But even modern Chinese coins can fetch seven figures on the collectibles market.

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You’ll find a “huge range” of Chinese coins to choose from, according to the CoinValueLookup website. Here’s a look at 12 of the most valuable Chinese coins. Estimated prices and descriptions are from CoinValueLookup. Keep in mind that the highest values are for coins in top graded condition.

This coin was minted for a provincial governor, but there are lingering questions about where it was minted. While some experts think it was made in Szechuan, others speculate that it was minted in Kweichow on “stolen machinery.” A high-grade version sold for 70,000 British pounds sterling in 2018, which would have been about $93,000 based on that year’s exchange rates.

This coin was produced for China by the Heaton Mint in Birmingham, UK, and features a unique “drunken dragon” design. It was made in different denominations but “only a handful of each” are in circulation. One version sold at auction for $88,000 in 2018, but a rare silver dollar from the same series will likely fetch more than $1 million.

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This brass 50-cent coin was struck from dies made by Otto Beh, a German manufacturer who specialized in Chinese coins. German patterns of Chinese coins are “highly sought after” by collectors. One version sold for $140,000.

Here is another design produced for the Chinese government by Great Britain’s Heaton Mint. This is a “specimen” coin highly prized by dealers and collectors and has sold for as much as $78,000.

The actual date of this coin is “shrouded in mystery,” according to CoinValueLookup. No mention of its existence was made in a 1917 article on Chinese coins, which suggests it could have been minted later. In any case, this coin has sold for more than $500,000.

Blockchain technology has ushered us into a digital era, including in finance. More people are opening their minds to the idea of dealing with digital currencies. This progress is something most of us never expected. However, the crypto sector is continuously booming to unprecedented levels. The global pandemic was a situation that led to crypto getting their moment to shine.

Currently, there are over 11,800 coins in the market and still increasing. The crypto market cap is swinging over $2 trillion and is expected to continue on an uptrend. Therefore, it is crucial to note that the economic models of some coins in the market are the reason behind their growth. These coins are deflationary tokens, a booming economic model in the newer coins.

What are deflationary tokens, and how are they influencing crypto projects to reach newer levels? Stay tuned for a clear explanation and my opinion on how they can boost crypto projects’ value.

A few of you may confuse the concept of deflation in traditional finance and cryptocurrencies. While in traditional finance, deflation is a bad thing, it is a positive element for cryptocurrencies. In traditional finance, deflation refers to an asset’s decrease in price due to certain conditions such as over-minting.

A deflationary crypto decreases in its market supply as time goes by. This factor implies that users or the project’s team will participate in activities that reduce the coin’s supply on the blockchain. A common way to achieve this end is burning tokens.

A point worth noting is that cryptocurrencies with a finite supply are deflationary by default. They achieve this status since as long as investors buy and hold the coin, its supply reduces. An excellent example is Bitcoin, the king coin in the crypto market and retaining the highest dominance to date.

According to many crypto enthusiasts, deflationary tokens are here to outsmart DeFi. Some of us may still be skeptical about this factor as DeFi shows promise in building web 3.0 into the future. However, projects such as Ethereum turning to deflationary token mechanism raises the question of what the fuss is about. Before we answer that question, let us have a look at how the deflationary token model works.

As mentioned earlier, deflation in cryptocurrencies mainly involves burning tokens from circulation. The confusion comes in how exactly a blockchain destroys its tokens. It is not a literal activity as it consists in locking the tokens in a wallet without the private keys, rendering them inaccessible.

Elon Musk has been professing his love for Dogecoin for a few years now — his first post about it goes back to 2019, when he called it his “fav cryptocurrency” — and he has since been sending the crypto on a rollercoaster ride following each one of his multiple posts about it. And earlier this month, in a significant move and a further stamp of approval for the crypto, Tesla updated its methods of payments to accept DOGE, according to its website.

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This sent the price of DOGE soaring, according to CoinGecko. And as of May 10, the price was up 3.5% in the past week, and a whopping 94.1% in the past year, according to CoinGecko data.

Yet, the trajectory of DOGE is tricky, with many alternative cryptocurrencies and memecoins being inherently extremely volatile. And while Musk continues to have a significant impact on DOGE’s popularity, and price, whether its path is tied to him remains to be seen.

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Patrick Gruhn — lawyer, entrepreneur, CEO of PMX Technologies and former (now defunct) FTX executive — argued there is no way to really predict what DOGE will be worth years from now, especially with “the absolute hype around memecoins on Solana as well.”

However, Gruhn noted that there is a very interesting point regarding memecoins in general, as they are often seen as a form of protest.

“The argument goes like this: ‘If the government is going to inflate and tax my hard-earned money away paying off their debts, enriching their friends, and buying political votes for re-election, then I’m going to simply use a different monetary system altogether that they can’t mint. And it’s going to be a dog on the face of the coin, because that’s what I think of what’s currently represented by the faces currently on our physical coins,’” he said.

“Seeing as Elon is creating a whole ecosystem of software and hardware innovation, perhaps he could stand with this protest and allow Dogecoin to be used with his products/services, thereby ensuring its demand. Then, of course, the value in five years can be substantial,” he added.

And while other experts agreed with the premise that it’s difficult to predict the price of memecoins due to their volatility, one thing is certain.

“Memecoins are here to stay — at least for the time being,” said Jeff Owens, co-founder of Haven1.

Owens noted that despite lacking underlying technology or a tangible use case, the memecoin frenzy over the last few months highlights that these assets have some value — value which is predominantly reliant on market sentiment.

Although crypto history is short, with Bitcoin celebrating its 15th birthday this year, we have already experienced three major cycles: 2011-2013, 2015-2017, and 2019-2021. The short cycle time is not surprising given the crypto market trades 24/7, about five times more than the equity market. The 2011-2013 cycle was predominantly about BTC, as ETH launched in 2015. Analyzing the past two cycles reveals patterns that help us understand the anatomy of a crypto bull market. With the market warming up to the U.S. election and improved liquidity outlook, history might rhyme again.

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BTC leads Altcoins into the Rally

In both the 2015-2017 and 2019-2021 cycles, Bitcoin initially led the market surge, establishing confidence and setting the stage for a broader rally. As investor optimism grew, capital flowed into altcoins, driving a broad-based market rally. Altcoins’ market cap peaks often coincided with BTC’s market cap dominance bottom, indicating capital rotation from BTC to alts. Currently, BTC dominance is still climbing from the post-FTX low, suggesting more room for BTC to run before alts catch up.

Altcoins Significantly Outperform in Later Half of the Cycle

In both major cycles, altcoins significantly outperformed Bitcoin after an initial phase where their returns were comparable. This trend reflects investors’ increased risk appetite and how reflexive the alts market can be with increased risk capital. In the second half of the 2015-2017 cycle, alts returned 344x versus BTC’s 26x. Similarly, in the second half of the 2019-2021 cycle, alts returned 16x versus BTC’s 5x. We are about halfway through the current cycle post-FTX, with alts slightly lagging behind BTC. This trend suggests a potential altcoin outperformance in the second half.

Macro Economic Influence

Crypto, like other risky assets, is highly correlated with global net liquidity conditions. In the past two cycles, global net liquidity increased by 30-50%. The recent Q2 selloff was partially driven by tightened liquidity conditions. However, as Q2 data confirmed a slowdown in inflation and growth, the trajectory for a Fed rate cut looks favorable.

The market now prices in a more than 95% chance of a rate cut in September, up from 50% at the beginning of Q3. Additionally, crypto policy is becoming central in the U.S. election, with Trump endorsing crypto, which may influence the new Democratic candidate. The past two cycles also overlapped with US elections and BTC halving events, adding to the rally potential.

• Crypto-tracked futures saw over $1 billion million in liquidations in the past 24 hours amid a market sell-off, with ether futures recording $304 million in liquidations.

• Over 200,000 traders were liquidated, with the largest single liquidation order worth $27 million on Huobi.

• Bitcoin and ether prices fell, with ether experiencing its steepest single-day drop since May 2021, and the crypto fear and greed index indicating “fear.”

Crypto-tracked futures recorded over $1 billion in liquidations in the past 24 hours as the market sell-off worsened on Sunday. The bloodbath was catalyzed by a stronger Japanese yen and rumors of market maker Jump Trading liquidating its crypto business.

Ether {{ETH}} tracked futures recorded over $340 million in liquidated bets, data shows, with bitcoin futures losses leading at $420 million. Futures tracking Solana’s SOL, dogecoin {{DOGE}}, xrp {{XRP}} and pepe (PEPE) took on $75 million in cumulative liquidations.

Over 275,000 individual traders were liquidated, and the largest single liquidation order was on crypto exchange Huobi – a BTC/USD trade worth $27 million. The data shows that some 87% of all traders affected were long traders, or those that bet on higher prices.

The liquidations came as bitcoin {{BTC}} slid more than 11% over 24 hours, while ether plunged as much as 25% before slightly recovering. TradingView data shows this was the worst single-day price fall for ETH since May 2021, when prices dumped from over $3,500 to $1,700. TradingView’s daily candle shows performance for UTC 00:00 to 23:59.

The drop caused the popular crypto fear and greed sentiment index to flash “fear,” reaching its lowest level since early July. The index tracks volatility, prices, and social media data to indicate whether participants are fearful—usually a sign of local bottoms—or greedy, which marks market tops.

Liquidations occur when an exchange forcefully closes a trader’s leveraged position due to a partial or total loss of the trader’s initial margin. It happens when a trader is unable to meet the margin requirements for a leveraged position, that is, they don’t have enough funds to keep the trade open.

Crypto markets started to sell off last week amid geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and poor earnings reports by technology firms. These factors dampened the artificial intelligence (AI) hype among investors and created a flight away from risky assets.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s economy is likely to be more or less stagnant in 2025 after shrinking for two years and the impact of U.S. tariffs could weigh down an already unimpressive showing, leading think tanks forecast Thursday.

Germany has Europe’s biggest economy and is the 27-nation European Union’s most populous member. Five economic institutes said in a regular update that they expect minimal growth of 0.1% this year — down from the 0.8% they forecast in September. They predicted growth of 1.3% in 2026.

However, they pointed to uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration’s trade policy. U.S. tariffs on aluminum, steel and vehicle imports are likely to reduce German economic growth this year and next by 0.1 percentage points each, an effect that the new forecast already takes into account, according to their report.

The sweeping tariffs announced last week by President Donald Trump and then largely put on hold could double that hit to gross domestic product, the economists said. But they added that “the specific effects are difficult to quantify, as tariff rates have never been raised so sharply in the world’s current globalized economy.”

Germany’s prospective new government, which hopes to take office next month after months of political drift in the country, aims to revitalize the economy. Friedrich Merz, the likely next chancellor, and his would-be allies presented their coalition agreement on Wednesday.

Once considered speculative investments, cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly mainstream. In Europe, WisdomTree is at the forefront of leading that charge. The global financial services firm offers a number of exchange-traded products (ETPs) that offer diversification and an incredibly easy way to buy and sell crypto assets.

Here Dovile Silenskyte, WisdomTree’s Director of Digital Assets Research, discusses crypto’s evolution as an asset class, the most recent adoption trends and WisdomTree’s latest ETP based on the CoinDesk 20 index.

How do you see crypto becoming more akin to a traditional asset class?

As with every asset class, diversification is essential. Investors diversify across and within equity and bond positions, so it should be no different when considering allocating capital to cryptocurrencies. Relying solely on bitcoin is akin to holding only one stock in an equity portfolio, which is a suboptimal strategy in terms of risk-adjusted returns. A well-diversified approach across multiple digital assets can enhance exposure to the broader growth of the sector.

As the digital asset class evolves, investors require a benchmark to measure performance, invest and trade. The CoinDesk 20 index serves as the benchmark index for the crypto industry and is the world’s most traded crypto index — it could be viewed as the S&P 500 of crypto. Taking a broad and diversified approach through the CoinDesk 20 provides a practical way to access opportunities across the digital asset market.

For investors who lack access to deep crypto knowledge, broad-based crypto indices offer a streamlined way to gain market exposure without the complexities of token selection. Just as ETF investors use index-based funds to gain equity exposure without stock-picking, a diversified crypto index allows for systematic, passive participation in the growth of digital assets.

What kind of adoption trends have you seen in the past? Are there geographical nuances you’ve observed?

After more than 15 years of existence, multiple boom-and-bust cycles and over half a billion users, cryptocurrencies have cemented their place as a major asset class rather than a passing trend. Bitcoin and ether have become integral components of institutional portfolios.

Despite cryptocurrencies’ long-term growth potential, many investors are still unsure. With a total market cap of approximately $3 trillion, the ecosystem and use cases are growing steadily. The crypto market is now of a similar (or larger) size as staple institutional investments such as high-yield bonds, inflation-linked bonds and emerging markets small caps.

Small-cap cryptos are some of the riskiest bets you can make right now. We’ve seen plenty of Bitcoin (BTC-USD) dominance as altcoins have continued to slide lower. That said, now could be a good entry point to consider adding exposure to some projects that provide a lot of utility. Certain meme coins are also gaining steam and have delivered multi-bagger gains over the past few weeks.

I believe if the altcoin market turns a corner and starts churning higher, we could see many big exchanges start listing some small-cap projects again. This could end up kickstarting an even bigger rally in some of these cryptos, as investors currently have lots of cash parked in top-tier exchanges. Here are three small-cap cryptos to look at that still haven’t seen much listing activity on the big exchanges, yet.

Source: Iryna Imago / Shutterstock.com

PAAL AI (PAAL-USD) is a decentralized AI chatbot crypto project. Much like many AI and utility cryptos, PAAL AI has been seeing some bearish price action in recent months. However, I think this is a project that could see an upswing going forward. I think we will likely see some sort of an altseason rally if spot Ethereum (ETH-USD) ETFs are given approval, and Bitcoin reaches a new all-time high after the halving starts to have a tangible impact on its supply.

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PAAL AI is within the Ethereum ecosystem, so I think it could be among the biggest gainers in the AI space. The market capitalization of this project sits at just $200 million as of writing.

The top cryptocurrency exchanges for trading PAAL AI are BingX, BitMart, HTX, Gate.io, and XT.COM. None of these are top-tier exchanges.

The primary reason PAAL AI is not widely available on major exchanges is that it is a relatively new token, having been launched in August 2023. New tokens often take time to gain listings on established and reputable exchanges. However, as PAAL AI gains visibility and establishes its position in the market, it may attract more interest from exchanges.

Source: Shutterstock

HashAI (HASHAI-USD) is another AI crypto project. It is a crypto mining company that uses artificial intelligence to enhance mining efficiency. The company mines the most efficient coins across L1 blockchains in real time, maximizing its hash (compute) power. This crypto token is a product of that company, from which holders will receive some of the returns from their AI-enhanced mining rigs.

I think HashAI has plenty of potential to grow in the coming years since crypto mining is becoming more and more popular across many blockchains. This is especially true as AI makes an entry into the crypto sector, eventually making mining more efficient. The market cap of this project is just $85 million, and the crypto has 98% of its volume on Uniswap (UNI-USD). Thus, I think there’s a good chance HashAI is listed on many of the top exchanges if it becomes more established.

Just when you thought the year-end couldn’t get any more intriguing, a significant options expiry is set to shake things up in this highly levered-up market.

Options are derivative contracts that give the purchaser the right to buy or sell the underlying asset at a preset price at a later date. A call gives the right to buy, and a put confers the right to sell.

On Friday at 8:00 UTC, 146,000 bitcoin options contracts, valued at nearly $14 billion and sized at one BTC each, will expire on the crypto exchange Deribit. The notional amount represents 44% of the total open interest for all BTC options across different maturities, marking the largest expiry event ever on Deribit.

ETH options worth $3.84 billion will expire as well. ETH has dropped nearly 12% to $3,400 since the Fed meeting. Deribit accounts for over 80% of the global crypto options market.

As of writing, Friday’s settlement looked set to see $4 billion worth of BTC options, representing 28% of the total open interest of $14 billion, expire “in the money (ITM),” generating a profit for buyers. These positions may be squared off or rolled over (shifted) to the next expiry, potentially causing market volatility.

“I suspect a fair bit of open interest in BTC and ETH will be rolled into Jan. 31 and Mar. 28 expiries as the nearest liquidity anchors at the start of the new year,” Simranjeet Singh, portfolio manager and trader, at GSR said.

It should also be noted that the put-call open interest ratio for Friday’s expiry is 0.69, meaning seven put options are open for every 10 calls outstanding. A relatively higher open interest in calls, which provides an asymmetric upside to the buyer, indicates that leverage is skewed to the upside.

The issue, however, is that BTC’s bullish momentum has run out of steam since last Wednesday’s Fed decision, where Chairman Jerome Powell ruled out potential Fed purchases of the cryptocurrency while signaling fewer rate cuts for 2025.

BTC has since dropped over 10% to $95,000, according to CoinDesk indices data.

This means that traders with leveraged bullish bets are at risk of magnified losses. If they decide to throw in the towel and exit their positions, it could lead to more volatility.

“The previously dominant bullish momentum has stalled, leaving the market highly leveraged to the upside. This positioning increases the risk of a rapid snowball effect if a significant downside move occurs,” Deribit’s Chief Executive Officer Luuk Strijers told CoinDesk.

In 2023, Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) surpassed expectations as its share price skyrocketed roughly 300%, making this stock quite the standout in the digital asset market. This will have important implications for COIN investors.

That said, even with its recent increase tied to France’s regulatory clearance, COIN stock still rests 55% below its 2021 peak.  Coinbase and Bitcoin (BTC-USD) are closely correlated, with Coinbase’s value largely tied to transaction fees, which are linked to the performance of the crypto sector. With a weighting of nearly half the sector, where Bitcoin is headed tends to drive a significant amount of the sentiment around this space, and therefore Coinbase’s valuation.

That said, there are other catalysts and headwinds to consider when it comes to this stock. Let’s dive into the bull and bear case around Coinbase in 2024.

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JPMorgan’s (NYSE:JPM) recent downgrade of Coinbase had a widespread effect on the company, with shares of COIN stock dropping roughly 5% on the news. On a year-to-date basis, Coinbase has been slumping in a big way, losing more than 30% of its value over this short time frame. Much of the negative sentiment around this stock, tied to the downgrade, relates to underwhelming capital flows into Bitcoin via spot ETFs.

The recent spot ETF approvals should have led to an expanded interest in the digital property and boosted Coinbase’s sales diversification. However, a well-known pattern of “buy the rumor, sell the information” has ensued, resulting in a 20% drop in Bitcoin prices following the ETF approval. Fast forward to 2024, Coinbase declined by 25%, which prompted JPMorgan to downgrade the stock with an $80 target price and an underweight rating.

Now, some suggest that Coinbase’s negative momentum isn’t something to worry about. This is a central player in providing the “rails” for the crypto sector. And if a rally that’s stronger than many think unfolds, perhaps this stock is valued attractively. I have to say, the company’s financials are difficult to digest, and many in the market may take this view. Analysts just don’t seem that convinced that a “rip your face off rally” is set to be unleashed in the crypto sector.

On January 10, interesting and significant developments came out of the SEC approval of eleven Bitcoin ETFs. The SEC charged Coinbase for trading unlisted securities, which caused a fiery back-and-forth between these two parties. The debate revolved around the Supreme Court’s Howey decision back in 1946, which emphasized the Securities Act of 1933.

Crypto is big money — and there’s potentially free money in it for you if you’re looking to try out a different crypto exchange or new to investing in crypto.

Worldwide, the crypto market cap is $2.65 trillion as of March 11, with Bitcoin holding about $1.62 trillion of that value, according to CoinMarketCap. Demand is high, and one way crypto exchanges compete for your business is by offering bonuses and promotions that you can add right into your account or portfolio.

It’s helpful to know the best offers so you can decide what crypto exchange you may want to invest with and if it’s a good time to take advantage of an offer.

Coinbase is one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges. If it’s your first time signing up and creating an account, you can get up to $200 in crypto or U.S. dollars. However, some terms and conditions must be met.

Within the first year of opening an account, you must add a payment method (such as a bank account or credit card) and buy any cryptocurrency that you want. Complete those steps and within two days you’ll receive the amount and type of cryptocurrency for the promo code you redeemed.

You can also earn perks from referrals, such as reduced trading fees.

If you decide to go with Gemini, which offers an array of crypto coins, you can earn up to $75 in the crypto of your choice or a percentage of trades for making a referral. Each friend must be a new Gemini user and sign up using your referral link.

Your referral has to make a minimum trade of $100 in their first 30 days, then you both get $75 in crypto. If your referral trades $5,000 or more, you both get a kickback on their trades for a year, starting at 15 percent.

Tastytrade is a brokerage platform that may appeal to active traders looking to buy and trade securities with low fees. Tastytrade offers about a dozen coins, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin and Solana.

New customers who open a tastytrade account and use MYNEWBONUS as the referral code will be eligible to receive a tiered cash bonus. To get the $50, you will need to add at least $2,000 to the account in cash or through an account transfer. You can earn $100 for a minimum deposit of $5,000, $500 for $25,000 and $2,000 for $100,000. Tiers go up to a $5,000 bonus for a $1 million deposit.

This promotion ends March 31, 2025, and is limited to new customers who are older than 18, live in the U.S. and are not existing customers. IRAs are not eligible.