The sentiment in the cryptocurrency market still remains bearish as the market sell-off intensified, after a dovish U.S. inflation data that sparked an increase in the monetary policy rate by the U.S Federal Reserve. The Feds through its Chairman announced a 75-basis point interest rate hike (0.75%) in a bid to tame the ever-increasing inflation rate. This is the biggest hike in the U.S. since 1994.
Asides from the U.S., the Swiss National Bank surprised the market by raising its key rate by 50 basis points. Also during the week, the Bank of England who increased its interest rate, hiking for the fifth straight time by 25 basis points. Even in Nigeria, the Nigerian financial watchdog, the Central Bank of Nigeria, increased the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) to 13% from 11.50% (150 BP), its first hike since September 2020.
During the week, flagship cryptocurrency asset Bitcoin, fell below the $20,000 support zone to trade as low as $17,708.62. As with the fall of Bitcoin, so is with Altcoins, as altcoin leader, Ether declined to now trade triple digits during the week. This saw the cryptocurrency market capitalization lose its trillion-dollar status as it currently trades at $819 billion with Bitcoin’s market dominance at 42.70%.
Although the majority of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization posted weekly declines, however, gains from HNT and BSV, led the rally in the market, posting gains of 10% and more. Here’s why:
Helium’s HNT 14.50%
Helium is a decentralized blockchain-powered network for Internet of Things (IoT) devices. It launched in 2019, and its mainnet allows low-powered wireless devices to communicate with each other and send data across its network of nodes. Users who operate nodes thus mine and earn rewards in Helium’s native cryptocurrency token, HNT.
The April-May crash seen in the crypto space plunged the price of the token to a new 2022 low of $6.64. This saw interested buyers entering at discounted prices, which ultimately drove the price 75.5% higher to test the immediate resistance of $12. However, amid the last week’s sell-off, the HNT price showcased a minor pullback before rechallenging the overhead resistance of $12.
Technical analysts explain that this whole consolidation seen in the token reflects the formation of a Cup and handle pattern, indicating a genuine recovery opportunity. It reads, “If the HNT price breaks and sustains above the $12 neckline, the buyers would drive the altcoin to its first target of 38% higher to $16.70.”
Bitcoin Satoshi Vision’s BSV 15.40%
Bitcoin SV emerged following a hard fork of the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain in 2018, which had, in turn, forked from the BTC blockchain a year earlier. The goal of Bitcoin SV is to fulfill the original vision of the Bitcoin protocol and design as described in Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper, early Bitcoin client software and known Satoshi writings.
BSV aims to offer scalability and stability in line with the original description of Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, as well as deliver a distributed data network that can support enterprise-level advanced blockchain applications. To this end, it has removed artificial block size limits and re-enabled Script commands and other technical capabilities which had been historically disabled or restricted by the protocol developers of the BTC blockchain.
This allows the network to process tens of thousands of transactions per second while maintaining extremely low transaction fees for micropayments, in addition to offering advanced capabilities such as tokens, smart contracts, computation and other data use cases.
BSV continues to go sky-high in the wake of the decline in the crypto market. This is said to have been fueled by its listing in Huobi Japan, which will support the token and open more opportunities for BSV in Japan, a wider and increasingly lucrative market. The increased trading interest and support seem to have triggered BSV’s gains.
