Bitcoin dropped below the $26,000 mark on Wednesday, with BNB, a cryptocurrency closely linked to Binance, falling to its lowest in more than a year. Australia, meanwhile, announced that any decision on a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is likely to be some years away due to unresolved issues. “It is possible that any semblance of dovishness from Jay Powell on Friday could help inspire a recovery,” said Sean Farrell, head of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat.
The cryptocurrency market has been awaiting developments from the central bankers’ meeting at Jackson Hole on Friday. BNB sank to as low as $204 on Tuesday afternoon, its weakest level since June 2020’s crypto market crash. It’s since pared some of those losses, currently changing hands at $214, down about 7% over the past week. This latest decline happened after the Wall Street Journal reported that Binance was facilitating Russian users’ ability to move money abroad despite widespread international sanctions.
Australia’s central bank said that the pilot project did not set out to provide a complete assessment of the costs, benefits, risks and other implications of introducing a CBDC. “Instead, it was more narrowly focused on exploring how a CBDC could be used by industry to enhance the functioning of the payments system,” the report said.