Bitcoin keeps heading higher as BTC price strength flies in the face of a hawkish Fed, but concerns over a retracement are building.

Bitcoin 

BTC

$29,907

passed $29,500 on Oct. 20 after an eventful 24 hours boosted BTC price trajectory, while XRP’s

XRP

$0.52

 price jumped above $0.50 in response to Ripple’s big legal win.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingView

Hawkish Fed’s Powell fails to dent BTC price

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it edged closer to two-month highs from the start of the week.

The largest cryptocurrency appeared to feed off events surrounding a speech from Jerome Powell, chair of the United States Federal Reserve, the day prior.

Amid a U.S. bond rout, Powell was under pressure to deliver appropriate wording, and analysis even predicted a “very dovish” tone would dominate. In the event, the speech, which was briefly interrupted by protesters, saw Powell as highly conservative on the outlook.

“The stance of policy is restrictive, meaning that tight policy is putting downward pressure on economic activity and inflation,” he said about interest rate hikes.

“Given the fast pace of the tightening, there may still be meaningful tightening in the pipeline.”

Powell said that the Fed acknowledged the potential problems of hiking rates too far.

“Doing too little could allow above-target inflation to become entrenched and ultimately require monetary policy to wring more persistent inflation from the economy at a high cost to employment. Doing too much could also do unnecessary harm to the economy,” he continued.

“Given the uncertainties and risks, and how far we have come, the Committee is proceeding carefully.”

Data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool showed changing tides among market expectations when it comes to future rate decisions.

At its next meeting on Nov. 1, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is now unanimously thought to hold rates at their current levels, per data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool. Before Powell, the odds stood at 88%.

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Fed target rate probabilities chart. Source: CME Group

Following the speech, news broke that U.S. regulators had dropped criminal charges against executives of blockchain firm Ripple.

XRP’s price responded immediately, trading up over 6% in 24 hours at the time of writing.

XRP/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingView

Trader suggests Bitcoin “impulse” is here

Amid a backdrop of increasing anticipation over the approval of a U.S. Bitcoin spot price exchange-traded fund (ETF), Bitcoin gained momentum overnight.

Related: Bitcoin metrics ‘improve bullish odds’ as BTC price holds 200-week trendline

At the time of writing, the day’s highs stood at $29,689 — just $200 from the top of a snap volatility wick seen on Oct. 17.

“Bitcoin filling the wick, slowly but surely. Let’s go for that $30k tap,” popular trader Jelle wrote in part of an X analysis on the day, having previously argued that Bitcoin looked “eager to fill” the Oct. 17 wick.

“Today it’s going a very interesting day for trading... They have hit exactly $29400 where there were many liquidations,” fellow trader CrypNuevo continued.

In various X posts, CrypNuevo uploaded liquidation data from the past days, warning that long positions outnumbered shorts four to one. Bitcoin, he suggested, could retrace during the U.S. trading session.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

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MARTIN YOUNGOCT 20, 2023

EtherHiding: Why hackers may prefer Binance’s BNB Smart Chain

According to cybersecurity analysts at 0xScope and CertiK, threat actors may prefer using BNB Smart Chain contracts because it’s cheaper and seen as having lower security than Ethereum.

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Despite the name “EtherHiding,” the new attack vector that hides malicious code in blockchain smart contracts doesn’t have much to do with Ethereum at all, cybersecurity analysts have revealed.

As reported by Cointelegraph on Oct. 16, EtherHiding has been discovered as a new way for bad actors to hide malicious payloads inside smart contracts, with the ultimate goal of distributing malware to unsuspecting victims.

These cybercriminals tend to prefer using Binance’s BNB Smart Chain, it is understood.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, a security researcher from blockchain security firm CertiK, Joe Green, said most of this is due to BNB Smart Chain’s lower costs:

“The handling fee of BSC is much cheaper than that of ETH, but the network stability and speed are the same because each update of JavaScript Payload is very cheap, meaning there’s no financial pressure.”

EtherHiding attacks are initiated by hackers compromising WordPress websites and injecting code that pulls partial payloads buried in Binance smart contracts. The website’s front end is replaced by a fake update browser prompt, which, when clicked, pulls the JavaScript payload from the Binance blockchain.

The actors frequently change the malware payloads and update website domains to evade detection. This allows them to continuously serve users fresh malware downloads disguised as browser updates, Green explained.

Screenshot of malware updates being deployed in BSC smart contract. Source: Certik 

Another reason, according to security researchers at Web3 analytics firm 0xScope, could be because of increased security-related scrutiny on Ethereum.

“While we are unlikely to know the EtherHiding hacker’s true motives for using BNB Smart Chain over other blockchains for their scheme, one possible factor is the increased security-related scrutiny on Ethereum.”

Hackers may face higher risks of discovery by injecting their malicious code using Ethereum due to systems such as Infura’s IP address tracking for MetaMask transactions, they said.

Related: Crypto investors under attack by new malware, reveals Cisco Talos

The 0xScope team told Cointelegraph they recently tracked the money flow between hacker addresses on BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum.

Key addresses were linked to NFT marketplace OpenSea users and Copper custody services, it reported.

Payloads were updated daily across 18 identified hacker domains. This sophistication makes EtherHiding hard to detect and stop, the firm concluded.