Crypto Markets Today: Archblock Attempting to Bring US Banks to DeFi; Bitcoin and Ether Stall

Archblock, a core developer of unsecured lending protocol TrueFi, is working with Adapt3r, a subsidiary of alternative asset manager MJL Capital, to bring U.S.-regulated community banks to decentralized finance (DeFi).

This article originally appeared in Crypto Markets Today, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter diving into what happened in today's crypto markets. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.

• The two firms plan to focus on expanding access to on-chain credit products and lower the cost of capital for traditional financial institutions, according to Archblock's Thursday press release.
• Marcus Leanos, founder and chief investment officer of MJL Capital, told CoinDesk, “We have a number of banks in our pipeline that range in size from $500 million to $5 billion in assets and have a history of conservatively originating loans.”
• The news comes at a precarious time, with undercollateralized lending protocols grappling with loan defaults across the board. DeFi promised a way to make lending without collateral more transparent and less risky for investors, but loans to risk-taking crypto trading firms that ended up being insolvent have led to bad debt piling on protocols such as TrueFi and Maple.

Token Roundup

Crypto.com (CRO): Crypto.com has obtained a Payment Institution License from the Central Bank of Brazil, the crypto exchange said on Thursday. The license allows the company to continue offering regulated fiat wallet services in the country, where the Crypto.com Visa card has been available since 2021. “Brazil and the entire Latin America market is a significant region in the pursuit of our vision of cryptocurrency in every wallet,” Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek said in a statement.

Bitcoin (BTC): The largest cryptocurrency by market value fell 1.9% over the past 24 hours, in sync with equity markets. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed down 3.2%. The S&P 500 slid 2.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.3%.

Ether (ETH): The second-largest cryptocurrency followed BTC’s trajectory, sliding around 2.8% to $1,272 as of publication time. The Web3 infrastructure company Blocknative, which has become one of Ethereum’s biggest block builders, raised $15 million in a Series A-1 round, led by Blockchain Capital, Foundry Group, Rho, IOSG Ventures, Robot Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, HackVC, Industry Ventures and others. The financing will accelerate Blocknative’s initiatives in the block-building market in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Latest Prices

Crypto Market Analysis: Bitcoin and Ether Stall Following Chair Powell’s Sobering Tone

By Glenn Williams Jr.

One interpretation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments this week is that, while he acknowledged the recent progress in bringing down inflation, material increases in unemployment might still be necessary medicine to stabilize consumer prices that were rising earlier this year at their fastest pace in four decades.

The reality may have started to set in on Thursday as prices for bitcoin and ether moderated following Wednesday’s gains. Despite the increase in rates coming in slower, as expected, markets were seemingly caught off guard by Powell's hawkish commentary about the need to keep pressing forward, well into 2023.

So how is the latest Fed information dump playing in crypto markets? Sentiment for digital assets can be gauged in part by viewing BTC and ETH’s respective funding rates. Bitcoin’s funding rate recently dipped into negative territory, reflecting a shift to bearish sentiment. A look over the last month shows that funding rates have oscillated back and forth, unsurprising given uncertainty around BTC prices.

Read the full technical take here.

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