Good morning, crypto enthusiasts. As Asian markets open, Bitcoin remains in the red while investors consider U.S. debt ceiling woes and other uncertainties. Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin was trading at $26,362, down about 3.1%. It had been hovering in a narrow range before dipping below its recent $26,500 support early Wednesday. The ongoing debt ceiling stalemate, inflationary, and crypto regulatory concerns have all contributed to the roiling of markets.
Opinions among U.S. central bankers about further rate hikes have differed, as revealed in the recent Federal Open Market Committee minutes. Edward Moya, a senior market analyst for foreign exchange market maker Oanda, suggested that Bitcoin will likely continue to consolidate near the lower boundaries of its downward-sloping trading range, with the $25,000 level providing significant support.
Meanwhile, Ether was trading at about $1,800, down 2.8% from Tuesday at the same time. Most major cryptos, including popular memecoins DOGE and SHIB, were down, with the CoinDesk Market Index also reflecting a 3% decline. Market risks, such as the prospect of monetary tightening in the U.S. and the increasing likelihood of a U.S. default, are putting pressure on Bitcoin. Moya also warned that surging Treasury yields could hurt several crypto/blockchain companies seeking financing for long-term projects.
Turning to the U.S. crypto market, several key players, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, have expressed bearish sentiments due to the lack of regulatory clarity. However, Guilhem Chaumont, CEO of market maker and liquidity provider Flowdesk, has a more optimistic view. In an interview with CoinDesk, Chaumont explained that his company aims to thrive in the U.S. market due to its commitment to compliance and regulatory requirements. The sophistication and size of the U.S. capital markets outweigh the challenges of dealing with its regulatory regime, he argued.
Chaumont sees a positive connection between crypto and traditional finance (TradFi) regulations and the potential for a talent bridge between the two sectors. He acknowledged that while it would be ideal to have purpose-built regulation for crypto, sometimes compromise is necessary. The convergence of crypto and TradFi regulations signals a shift towards more regulated assets in crypto trading.
In other recent developments, crypto security firm Unciphered claimed it can physically hack the Trezor T hardware wallet, which Trezor says it acknowledged a similar-sounding attack vector a few years ago. The Fantom Foundation has removed $2.4 million MULTI from SushiSwap’s liquidity pool due to delayed transactions caused by Multichain’s ongoing upgrade. Additionally, 0x has released the latest version of DEX aggregator Matcha to enhance user trading experience, while Ava Labs has launched the no-code Web3 launchpad AvaCloud to facilitate faster, cheaper, and lower-risk Web3 product development.
Source: Coindesk
