Powell’s remarks leave crypto market skittish

THE CRYPTOmarkets have seen further pull back this week, with the price of Bitcoin falling seven per cent over the past seven days. There was a sharp drop late last Thursday/early Friday to around $22k.

The weaker performance came ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s announcement this week that hinted the recent program of rapid interest rate rises that has been driving the market's haywire will continue. Powell explained the “latest economic data have come in stronger than expected, which suggests that the ultimate level of interest rates is likely to be higher than previously anticipated. If the totality of the data were to indicate that faster tightening is warranted, we would be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes”. Crypto and traditional risk-on markets responded to the announcement with immediate red candles, with analysts saying that some consolation to yesterday’s news may be the softer than expected market reaction to Powell’s remarks due the amount of de-risking and deleveraging that has already happened in the last few months. There were also several negative industry-specific headlines last week to worry about. Silvergate announced that it would delay its filing, citing that the company could “be less than wellcapitalised”. Silvergate has been an important fiat payment rail in the crypto market and, thus, important for the market plumbing and liquidity. Investors may be skittish, but use cases continue to be seen for crypto around the world. In Nigeria, a recent economic cash crisis has reportedly increased Bitcoin adoption in the country as Nigerians look to Bitcoin, according to Forbes.

They noted that Bitcoin is viewed by many Nigerians, especially among the younger generation, as a safe haven for the underbanked and unbanked as economic conditions worsen. Nigerians are currently facing record-high inflation of 21%.

SOME of the 100 exclusive tickets for the Crypto AM Spring Awakening at the end of the month are still available.

The event – the first of Crypto AM’s series of prominent gatherings across 2023 – will be held at The Mansion House, official residence of the Lord Mayor London, on Thursday March 30. The theme of the Spring Awakening will be the ‘State of the Union of Crypto in the UK’, and will include a prestigious three-course networking lunch in the magnificent surroundings of the historic Egyptian Hall. Tickets, priced £120, can be purchased by visiting https://www.cityam.com/crypto-springawakening/.

Voyager On A Mission

IN a week where most cryptocurrencies have found themselves in the red, exchange token Voyager (VGX) has produced some strong results. The Ethereum-based reward token for the Voyager centralised exchange rose in price by more than 60 per cent yesterday to $0.61 – up almost 50 per cent over seven days. Trading volume for the $164m market cap token rocketed to an astonishing 520 per cent in 24 hours to $196m. However, it still has some considerable distanced to travel to match its all-time high of $12.54 set in January 2018.