Good Morning, Asia. Here’s what’s making news in the markets:
Welcome to Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of top stories during U.S. hours and an overview of market moves and analysis. For a detailed overview of U.S. markets, see CoinDesk’s Crypto Daybook Americas.
Manufacturers of bitcoin mining equipment won’t be feeling the pinch of a new round of tariffs the White House has imposed on the semiconductor industry, as the largest chip manufacturers like TSMC and Samsung have an exemption from the new rules due to their investments in the U.S.
Officials in Taiwan confirmed to local press that TSMC would have an exemption from the 100% tariffs because of its facilities in Phoenix, which opened in 2023. South Korean officials also confirmed that Samsung would have a similar exemption because of its fabs in Texas.
TSMC and Samsung manufacture the Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) designed by BTC mining companies like Bitmain, Canaan, and Bitdeer.
Bitmain and Canaan didn’t respond to a request for comment from CoinDesk.
A spokesperson for Bitdeer confirmed that they partner with TSMC to manufacture the ASICs used for their miners, and thus wouldn’t feel the pinch of tariffs. The spokesperson also said that they expect to bring online a U.S.-based factory to assemble the miners within a year.
Broadly speaking, the market seems to have shrugged off the new tariffs. In Taipei, the TAIEX, an index of Taiwan’s stock market, is set to open trading Friday up 2.3% with TSMC up 3% and approaching record highs.
Even the targets of these tariff policies are in the green.
SMIC, the Shanghai-based rival to TSMC, which lacks a U.S. facility, is up on the week in Hong Kong, outperforming the Hang Seng index.
Market Movers:
BTC: Bitcoin has entered a bullish cooldown after hitting a $123K all-time high, now trading at $117,386.04, with softer momentum and weaker on-chain signals pointing to short-term consolidation or mild downside risk, according to a report by CryptoQuant.
ETH: Glassnode data shows short-term capital flow has shifted from Solana to Ether, with ETH/SOL at a year-to-date low and ETH/BTC breaking above its 200-day EMA for the first time in two years, as ETH trades at $3,905.42 (+6.43%) and approaches $4K, with open interest at $58B and network activity at record highs.
Gold: Gold is trading at $3,387, up 0.5%, as the market weighs the impact of tariffs on India for importing Russian oil.
Nikkei 225: Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 up 1.18% and the Topix hitting a record 3,031.78, led by sharp gains in Nippon Chemical Industrial, Miyakoshi Holdings, J-Lease, and Japan Electronic Materials.
S&P 500: Stocks rose Wednesday, with the S&P 500 up 0.73% to 6,345.06, as Apple jumped 5% on news it will boost U.S. manufacturing investment by $100B to a total of $600B over four years.
