Overview
- Interest rate hike and recession fears.
- Crypto reacts to rate increase.
- Will Harmony One reimburse those affected by the recent hack?
- SushiSwap aims to hire a new “Head Chef”.
Good morning Banter Fam,
The interest rate hike went as predicted with a consecutive 75bps hike bringing rates to a benchmark of 2.25 – 2.50%. In the post-meeting statement, Powell sprinkled the slightest bit of dovishness by hinting at a slowdown of pace.
“As the stance of monetary policy tightens further, it likely will become appropriate to slow the pace of increases while we assess how our cumulative policy adjustments are affecting the economy and inflation,”
- Jerome Powell, post-meeting statement.
Looks good and dandy but the FED might be preparing the stage for the release of today’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers which many predict will confirm a recession in the US economy after two consecutive GDP decreases.
The White House sounded a similar rhetoric with its recent press release that questions the historical definition of a recession, a likely effort to soften the blow.
Either way, be prepared for anything during the GDP announcement at 0830 am EST.
Market update 🌍
BTC/USD
Bitcoin and the broader crypto markets reacted positively to the dovish tones of the FED yesterday. BTC took the opportunity to create a higher low on the daily chart, sparking the slightest hopium for a continued uptrend. Although, tomorrow’s GDP data may encompass a dash of bearish sentiment if the data confirms a US recession. BTC completed the daily candle up +8.04% to $22,969.
High-resolution chart
The USDT dominance chart looks rather promising after confirming a continuation of downtrend by creating a second lower high. Ultimately, it shows the willingness of traders to exit stablecoins to enter riskier cryptocurrencies. USDT dominance currently stands at 6.42% when measured against the entire crypto market.
High-resolution chart
| US markets close | Gain |
| S&P 500 | +2.62% |
| Nasdaq | +0.57% |
| Dow | +1.83% |
| VIX | -5.88% |
Notable Gainers (24h):
| Protocol (Coin) | Price ($) | Gain (%) |
| Lido DAO (LDO) | 1.92 | +33 |
| Ethereum Classic (ETC) | 32.84 | +29 |
| Bitcoin Gold (BTG) | 26.98 | +28 |
| Synthetix Network (SNX) | 3.77 | +26 |
| Uniswap (UNI) | 8.07 | +21 |
| Celsius Network (CEL) | 1.10 | +19 |
| ApeCoin (APE) | 6.84 | +18 |
| THORChain (RUNE) | 2.72 | +17 |
| Aave (AAVE) | 94.41 | +16 |
| Optimism (OP) | 1.06 | +27 |
| Balancer (BAL) | 6.01 | +20 |
| Ethereum Name Ser. (ENS) | 15.13 | +18 |
| Synapse (SYN) | 1.17 | +17 |
| Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index | 32 Fear |
| “Crypto” Google Trends 90d | 16 |
| “Bitcoin” Google Trends 90d | 31 |
Newswatch 📰
Harmony One attempts reimbursement. After the Horizon Bridge hack that saw $99m worth of assets stolen from 65k wallets, the Harmony One team looks to hard fork the blockchain to reimburse those affected. The team presented a proposal with an option to reimburse the wallets by 100% over the span of three years and a second option to reimburse wallets 50% in a similar time span. The proposal appears to be very unpopular with the community, citing unfair token inflation.
Tether claims it holds no Chinese commercial papers. In an attempt to “clear false information”, Tether, the stablecoin issuer of USDT, claims to hold no Chinese commercial papers as of today. The announcement states Tether reduced exposure to commercial paper to 3.7b from 30b in July 2021 and plans to further decrease to zero by the end of October or early November.
News tidbits:
- Unstoppable Domains raises $65m led by Pantera Capital behind a $1 billion valuation.
- Kucoin launches “Anti-FUD Fund” to potentially take legal action against defamation.
- El Salvador looks to buy back $1.6b of its sovereign bonds.
At the protocol level ⛓
Sushi proposes a new “Head Chef”. Decentralized exchange SushiSwap (SUSHI) releases a proposal to hire Jonathan Howard as the new chief executive officer to its community. The protocol looks to expand its product after the passing of the Sushi 2.0 proposal in May, which aims to upgrade the protocol with the launch of various updates including an NFT marketplace.
Optimistic flow program. Optimism releases an “onboard flow” initiative designed to onboard new crypto users and reward them with NFTs. Visit the Optimism homepage to participate.
Protocol level tidbits:
- StarkNet Introduces its first structured product: JediSwap.
- Mirror introduces Web3 subscriptions.
- Quadrata is now live on Ethereum, allowing users to prove “humanity”.
NFT & metaverse update 🐵
- Ledger NFT push. Ledger has launched the “world’s most secure NFT marketplace”, [ Ledger ] Market, having previously sold 10,000 Market Genesis Passes.
- Zuck’s metaverse conviction. Mark Zuckerberg says developing metaverse platforms will “Unlock hundreds of billions of dollars, if not trillions over time”, during Meta’s earnings conference call. Meta’s metaverse division reported a $2.8B loss in Q2.
Banter’s take
Recession or no recession? We’ll present the facts and let you be the judge.
Interestingly, the International Monetary Foundation (IMF) drew gray lines to define a recession.
Here’s the “official” definition of a recession as put forth by the IMF:
“There is no official definition of recession, but there is general recognition that the term refers to a period of decline in economic activity. Very short periods of decline are not considered recessions. Most commentators and analysts use, as a practical definition of recession, two consecutive quarters of decline in a country’s real (inflation adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP)”.
- IMF’s “What is a recession?” March 2009
The lines are so bleak that anyone who calls it a “recession” or “NOT a recession” is technically correct! Now pat yourself on the back and thank the powers to be for the clarity.
Gabri
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Disclaimer
Good Morning Crypto (issued by Crypto Banter) is a newsletter for entertainment purposes only.
All opinions expressed by the publisher, writers, and chartists should not be construed as financial advice, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Crypto Banter. The publisher, writers, and chartists may hold positions in the tokens and assets discussed. Readers are encouraged to do their own research.
