The Federal Reserve has changed interest rates between 4.25% and 4.5% during its latest meeting, and spoke to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to highlight attention and data dependence amid ongoing economic uncertainty. Despite the decision, the market remained flat. Analysts predict that the Fed could consider cutting rates in July or September if the economy weakens further.
Trade tensions remain high and the United States is trapped in an escalating tariff war. However, important developments came when China’s Commerce Department confirmed that talks with the US over tariffs would resume. Both economies have been hit by standoffs, and the potential melting of the relationship has been welcomed in the market. Bitcoin responded with a sharp move on May 6th, tapping easily at $97,000.
Amid historic moves, New Hampshire became the first US state to approve a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve. This bill (HB302) allows state treasurers to purchase Bitcoin or digital assets at a market capitalization of more than $500 billion. Currently, it’s Bitcoin only. The purchase concludes with 5% of the state’s total funds.
The Ethereum developers activated their long-awaited Pectra upgrade on May 7th, two days before expectation. The upgrade includes 11 changes aimed at improving the user experience, validator manipulation, and layer 2 scaling. Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum, has been called a major step into a fully decentralized global system. Despite the technical leap, the price of $eth has remained largely unchanged.
Bitwise applied for spots near the ETF and continued its trends of top asset managers focusing on US-based crypto assets. Meanwhile, the SEC delayed Canary Capital’s decision on the proposed Spot$LTC ETF, demanding more public comments and cited concerns about market manipulation.
Hedera recently enabled ERC-20 token support via Hashpack and Saucerswap. EVM compatibility has come live via WalletConnect, Fireblocks and copper following the success of the ChainLink CCIP integration.