Markets fall following the statements of Fed Chairman, while Grayscale rebounds amid hearing
After U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke before Congress, cryptocurrency markets fluctuated throughout the day.
According to TradingView data, Bitcoin was trading at around R411K at 4:55 p.m. EST, a decrease of approximately 1.5%. Earlier in the day, the price reached a low of R408K.
Powell stated during his testimony that the U.S. central bank is "prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes" and that the ultimate level of interest rates is "likely to be higher than previously anticipated" because the most recent economic data was stronger than expected. Powell also warned financial institutions to be careful when dealing with crypto.
"We've seen just a remarkable set of events in the crypto space,” he said, noting there’s been “quite a lot of turmoil” in the past year, with companies collapsing and high-profile fraud being revealed. “We see in crypto activity lots of things that suggest that regulated financial institutions should be quite cautious in doing things in the crypto space.
The markets fell immediately after the remarks but recovered modestly over the day.
At 4:55 p.m. EST, Ether was trading at R28.8K, down 0.9% on the day, while altcoins dipped marginally. BNB on Binance was down 0.3%, XRP on Ripple was up 3%, and ADA on Cardano was down 1.2%.
The CoinFLEX token increased by 8.7% after the company announced that a Seychelles court has approved its restructuring plans.
Cryptocurrency stocks and structured products
Grayscale filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for rejecting its June request to transform its flagship fund, GBTC, into a spot bitcoin ETF.
According to Avi Felman, the head of digital asset trading at GoldenTree, oral arguments were "proceeding nicely" and the judges were "questioning the legitimacy of the SEC's arguments against spot ETF."
According to TradingView statistics, GBTC traded higher throughout the day, gaining roughly 9.6% to R240 at the close. The price of the asset manager's ether product, ETHE, rose almost 2.8% to R133.
Other crypto equities traded largely unchanged, with minor dips. Silvergate fell 3.7% to R96.7, while Coinbase fell 1.4% to around R1154. Block fell 3.4% to trade near R1452 and MicroStrategy fell 6% to R4 307.
