coindesk.com
Good morning.
Here’s what’s happening:
Prices: Bitcoin and most other major cryptos fell after the Fed raised the interest rate 25 basis points and made clear that inflation remained its focus even after recent banking debacles.Insights: In a Q&A with CoinDesk, the chief technology officer of smart contract platform Conflux says the company's blockchain-enabled SIM card (BSIM) offers security and convenience.PricesA Hopeful Day Ends With a Slump
The U.S. central bank took the apparent path of least resistance, raising the interest rate 25 basis points to quash investor hopes that it would turn more dovish in the aftermath of a banking crisis that has rocked confidence in traditional financial services firms and the strength of the U.S. dollar.
Bitcoin dithered in the immediate aftermath of the bank's decision before edging down steadily, even dipping below $27,000. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was recently trading at $27,375, off 3.5%. Earlier in the day, as markets hoped for a cessation of the year-long regime of Fed rate increases, BTC zoomed above $28,700.
"Risk aversion was able to drag down Bitcoin as market jitters returned on banking worries and over a quickly weakening economy," Edward Moya, senior market analyst for foreign exchange market maker Oanda, wrote in an email. "The Fed might be done tightening, but the risk of something else breaking in the financial sector remains elevated."
Ether also tumbled from highs over $1,800 to its more recent $1,737. The second largest crypto in market value was off more than 3.3%. Nearly every other major crypto by market cap in the CoinDesk top 25 was well in the red with the main exceptions APT, the token of layer 1 blockchain Aptos, and LTC, the native crypto of open-source blockchain Litecoin. They rose more than 5% and 6%, respectively. The CoinDesk Market Index, a measure of the crypto market's overall performance, was recently down 2.7%.
The crypto world, meanwhile, suffered its latest shocks with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) warning crypto exchange Coinbase it was pursuing enforcement action over securities violations and filing a lawsuit against Tron founder Justin Sun on allegations of selling and airdropping unregistered securities, fraud and market manipulation. Tron was recently down 10%.
Oanda's Moya called the allegations against Sun "newsworthy." "Market manipulation is one part of the crypto world that still has yet to be cleaned up or even close to fully being addressed," he wrote.
Biggest Gainers
InsightsEverything You Might Want to Know About Conflux’s Blockchain SIM Card
Tokens of Conflux blockchains have been one of the top performers this year, rising 1,700% since January 1 – from 2 cents to over 40 cents – and quickly reaching a market capitalization of over $800 million..
The growth has stemmed mainly from Coinflux’s deep roots in China and a blockchain-enabled SIM (BSIM) card that’s touted as a unique entryway for daily users to interact with cryptocurrency-based applications.
These are set to be built in partnership with China Telecom, the second-largest wireless carrier in China with an estimated 390 million subscribers, as CoinDesk has reported.China Telecom will launch the first BSIM pilot program in Hong Kong later this year, Conflux Network said at the time. This will likely be followed by pilots in key mainland China locations such as Shanghai.The BSIM card will manage and store the user's public and private keys in the card and carry out digital signatures in a way that the private key does not exit the card. Users who switch to a BSIM card will be able to store digital assets safely, transfer their digital assets conveniently and display their assets in a variety of applications.CoinDesk spoke with Ming Wu, Conflux's chief technology officer, to understand more about the BSIM, Conflux’s future plans, how the card is different than a crypto wallet and the disadvantages of using BSIM.