Hedera, Fantom, XRP, Filecoin prices rise as US inflation dips

  • The headline consumer price index dropped to 4.0% in May.

  • The data came as the FOMC prepares to conduct its June meeting.

  • Economists expect that the bank will leave interest rates unchanged.

Altcoin prices jumped on Tuesday after the US published encouraging consumer inflation data. Hedera Hashgraph price has jumped by about 4% in the past 24 hours. Similarly, other altcoins like Fantom, XRP, Filecoin, and Uniswap have jumped by over 4% in the past 24 hours.

US inflation retreats

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have jumped in the past few hours after the encouraging US consumer price index data. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the headline consumer price inflation dropped from 4.9% in April to 4.0% in May. This was a bigger decline than what analysts were expecting. It was also the biggest decline in several months.

These numbers are important because they came on the same day that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is set to start its two-day meeting. As a result, the committee will be comfortable to leave interest rates unchanged at 5.25%. It has delivered interest rate hikes in the past ten meetings straight.

A Fed pause and an eventual pivot will be good news for risky assets like cryptocurrencies and stocks. This explains why the stock-focused fear and greed index has jumped while key indices like the Dow Jones and Nasdaq 100 have gained by double-digits this year.

Regulatory concerns remain

For cryptocurrencies like Hedera Hashgraph, Filecoin, Fantom, and XRP, these inflation numbers are welcome. However, the biggest risk in the crypto industry is that regulators in the US and the UK have gone to war with these assets. 

Last week, the SEC filed a major lawsuit against Binance and Changpeng Zhao. On the following day, the agency filed another one against Coinbase, the biggest exchange in the United States. A common allegation in the lawsuit is that they offer unregulated products.

Some of these unregulated products are proof-of-stake tokens that have a yield element. The SEC has already sued Ripple alleging that it is an unregulated cryptocurrency. It has also identified several tokens it believes are securities.

As a result, we could see exchanges that serve American customers start delisting these tokens, which could hurt many of them. 

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6.5M tokens bought within hours of the highly anticipated Chancer Presale launch

  • Chancer is a revolutionary betting platform that seeks to leverage the power of blockchain technology.
  • The CHANCER token is going for 0.01 BUSD in the current stage.
  • CHANCER token holders will have the opportunity of creating customized betting markets on the Chancer platform.

Chancer, one of the most intriguing new Web3 projects of 2023, officially launched its crypto presale today.

By removing the “house” from the equation and firmly placing the markets in the hands of the bettors, Chancer seeks to disrupt the betting industry by enabling users to create their own betting markets, set their own odds, and establish their own rules.

Chancer is the first decentralized predictive markets app in the world, and its creators, brothers Adam and Paul Kelbie, believe it will fundamentally alter the way people bet and ultimately restore the fun to gambling.

How Chancer seeks to alter the betting industry

Chancer wants to capitalize on the sizeable online betting and gambling market, which is estimated to be worth $64 billion by 2022 and establish a dominant position there.

Chancer users can create peer-to-peer (P2P) bets, positioning the platform as a betting facilitator rather than a betting house. The bets can range from small, casual wagers among close friends to massive, viral wagers involving thousands of people, such as picking the winner of the Oscar for Best Director or guessing the Champions League final score.

Contrary to most bookmakers, Chancer allows bets to be placed on any prediction or event, not just sports. Users have complete control over their bets and won’t lose to a traditional bookmaker who sets the odds against them, which is part of its inherent appeal.

Commenting about Chancer and the coming months for the project, the CEO of Chancer, Adam Kelbie, said:

“We’re confident that we can change the way betting and gambling works. The next few months are going to be very exciting, and we’re thrilled that we can offer a new cryptocurrency in such a competitive market. We’re doing something no one else has done, disrupting an industry that has had the odds stacked against consumers since it began. It won’t be easy, but we’re ready for the fight.”

All bet payouts will be made in Chancer’s native token, “CHANCER,” which will be tradable on several cryptocurrency exchanges once the presale is completed.

Chancer token presale

The Chancer token presale officially launched today and at press time, 6,541,850 tokens had been sold out raising $65,418.49 barely a few hours after the presale went live.

According to the project’s whitepaper, the presale will be conducted over twelve stages with the first stage seeking to sell 100 million tokens to raise $1 million. The CHANCER token, which is BUILT ON THE Binance Smart Chain (BSC), is currently going for 0.01 BUSD stablecoin.

What’s unique about Chancer betting platform?

The project has a well-planned roadmap outlining a variety of product use cases to pique the interest of various types of investors, as stated in the whitepaper. Additionally, Chancer seeks to achieve and uphold true decentralization.

So that no one party can take control of the network, Chancer will have a proof of stake consensus mechanism. The platform’s users will take control of decision-making under quadratic governance.

In addition, the source code for Chancer will always be available for inspection. This implies that anyone is free to examine, contribute, and suggest modifications to the platform’s operation with the confidence that their ideas will be taken into consideration.

In a novel way, Chancer will also use Google’s WebRTC’s real-time communication capabilities to broadcast events live to its community.

Additionally, it will offer a Share2Earn program, staking, and discounted fees for those who create and participate in the market, making the platform affordable for those who use it frequently. Users can also generate passive income by becoming node validators.

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Etoro to limit US customers’ access to four major cryptocurrencies

  • eToro is an Israeli multi-asset investment platform widely known for social trading.
  • eToro will delist ALGO, MATIC, MANA, and DASH for US customers.
  • US customers can, however, still hold and sell already open positions in these tokens.

According to a tweet by eToro, four tokens — ALGO, MATIC, MANA, and DASH — will be delisted starting July 12, 2023, as the company adjusts its cryptocurrency offering for customers in the US.

The platform claims that the new change won’t have an impact on non-US customers and that US customers can continue to hold and sell any open positions in these tokens.

eToro makes no mention of the SEC lawsuit against the two largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase and Binance. It, however, claimed it was taking the action “in light of recent developments.”

In the SEC’s most recent legal actions, the four tokens mentioned in the eToro announcement were classified as securities.

Similar actions by trading platforms in the US

The move by eToro comes shortly after one similar one by Robinhood in June. Robinhood declared that, in light of its “latest review,” it would be removing SOL, MATIC, and ADA from its platform.

With the SEC’s recent enforcement strategy toward cryptocurrencies, more businesses may follow in the footsteps of eToro and Robinhood in order to avoid regulatory issues that could further negatively impact users based in the US.

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Bitcoin and Ethereum network revenues spiked in May despite significant headwinds: ETC Group report

  • Bitcoin revenue jumped 249% YoY in May, while Ethereum network fees rose 53.7% in May, according to a research report by the ETC Group.
  • Ordinals and enterprise adoption drove network revenues for Bitcoin and Ethereum respectively.
  • Regulation and macroeconomics remain key factors even as benefits of tokenisation attracts major banks.

The current market outlook for Bitcoin and crypto continues to suffer from the flurry of activities around the actions of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after it sued Binance and Coinbase. 

While June started off with wild volatility that has pegged prices below key levels, a new report suggests the market headwinds in May did little to slow down network revenue generation for the world’s two largest blockchains by market cap over the month.

Bitcoin and Ethereum network growth

The report by German-based ETP (exchange-traded products) issuer ETC Group highlights a significant jump in network revenue for both Bitcoin and Ethereum over the past month. 

ETC Group Research team’s Tom Rodgers (Head of Research) and Hanut Singh (a Research Analyst at ETC Group and formely with CoinJournal), shared the outlook via an overview of the biggest trends and events in crypto over the month – from regulation to macroeconomics and adoption as signaled by on-chain data.

Writing in the Digital Assets and Metaverse Monthly Review: May 2023, Rodgers and Hanut noted that although continued headwinds saw the total crypto market cap flatline near $1.1 trillion. 

On the macro level, the uncertainty around the US debt ceiling debate weighed on crypto markets. Elsewhere, the regulatory front saw the non-friendly approach by the US SEC and UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) continue to impact sentiment. 

However, despite these factors, there was noteworthy growth in terms of network revenue for the leading blockchains.

“…revenues generated by the two largest blockchains by market cap rose substantially in May due to increasing user bases and new technological developments, most notably Ordinals for Bitcoin, and increasing adoption for Ethereum enterprise solutions,” the ETC Group research team wrote.

Ordinals helped push Bitcoin revenue up 249% YoY in May

According to the ETC Group report, the weekly revenue on the Bitcoin network increased by 249% year over year in May. This was largely driven by the spike in Ordinals, which as CoinJournal reported here, saw BTC miners record multi-year highs in transaction revenue.

The demand for the Bitcoin Ordinals meant transaction fees amounted to 29.57% of monthly revenue for miners – the last time it was that high was during the 2017 bull market that had seen the first real foray into crypto by institutional investors.

Ethereum network fees jumped 53.7% in May

For Ethereum, renewed interest in staking was visible in May despite the fears of a major withdrawal rout after the Shapella upgrade. Indeed, as the ETC Group report highlights, the supply of staked ETH on the mainnet rose from 14% to almost 20% at the end of the month. About $46 billion worth of ETH was staked, representing a 200% jump in the percentage of supply locked on the network.

This has happened even as ETH supply has declined since the Merge. Meanwhile, monthly fees rose by 53.7% in the month – from $241 million in April to $448 million in May. Increased demand for Ethereum blockspace is behind the jump in total network fees, the researchers noted.

Crypto regulation in the US

While US presidential candidates Ron DeSantis (R) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (D) have indicated support for Bitcoin, the overall outlook on US crypto regulation remains largely hostile even with bipartisan engagements.

The SEC recently ramped up its crackdown with the lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, even as the crypto community highly anticipates the outcome of another high profile case between the SEC and Ripple Labs over the XRP token.

This even as Asia emerged as a strong destination for crypto, led by Hong Kong’s recent regulatory guidelines that have seen OKX, Huobi and other exchanges apply for licenses. The adoption of the MiCA rules by Europe was also a notable event that could make the bloc attractive to more US-based crypto businesses.

Tokenisation sees major banks eye blockchain adoption

May also witnessed increased institutional interest in blockchain amid further growth in tokenisation.

Interest peaked after State Street, the second-oldest US bank, hinted at a move likely to help bring $1.4 trillion worth of assets onto the blockchain via tokenisation of ETFs. The issue of tokenisation and its benefits had also previously been highlighted by the Bank of New York Mellon. 

That’s also the view of Citibank, which has suggested tokenisation could see up to $4 trillion of liquid and illiquid assets brought on-chain.

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Solo Bitcoin miner beats the odds to win 6.25 BTC block reward

  • A solo Bitcoin miner earned the 6.25 BTC block reward after beating the odds to solve block 793607.
  • The miner reportedly used an Antminer S9 with about 17 TH.
  • At today’s Bitcoin mining difficulty and with 17 TH, a solo miner would need an average of 450 years to land a block.

With Bitcoin price struggling below $26,000, and the wider crypto market impacted by recent regulatory events, there’s has been very little to cheer Bitcoiners.

But for a solo BTC miner, a lucky break had them strike gold with the winning of a block reward. According to on-chain data, the miner beat staggering odds to mine block 793607 and earn the 6.25 BTC block reward.

BTC miner with single Antminer S9 hits jackpot

The solo miner reportedly achieved the once-in-a-life-time feat using a single Antminer S9 and accounted for only 17 terahashes (TH). Their “lottery” win was worth about $160,000 at the time of block reward.

“Congratulations to miner 151XTfHBfaDqoNWGGeYobNX2YzFFWuB5YD with only ~17TH for solving the 275th block at http://solo.ckpool.org! That is likely a single S9 miner. A miner of this size would only solve a block once every ~450 years on average,” tweeted Con Kolivas, a CGMiner software engineer and the admin of Solo CKPool.  

It’s not the first time a solo miner has hit such a jackpot, with CKPool apparently seeing seven such instances since January. However, the feat is increasingly difficult as the Bitcoin hashrate and mining difficulty have increased.

According to data from Blockchain.com, the current Bitcoin mining difficulty is 51.23 trillion hashes. Mining difficulty looks at how difficult it is to mine the next block, that is how many hashes a miner must generate to find and solve a valid block. The current difficulty is at all-time highs and has most blocks solved by major mining pools and companies.

The difficulty adjusts every 2016 blocks (about two weeks’ time) and can go up or down. The next adjustment expected on June 14 will see the difficulty jump by about 2.92% to 52.73 T.

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