Toncoin leads bitcoin in crypto market rally after Telegram endorsement

Toncoin rallied on Monday, as the native token of the The Open Network was boosted by a fresh endorsement from the Telegram messaging platform last week.

Investors are enthused about Toncoin’s prospects after Telegram and the TON Foundation jointly announced a new self-custodial wallet, called TON Space, at the Token 2049 conference in Singapore on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Pavel Durov, the creator of Telegram, endorsed TON as its blockchain network of choice for expanding web3 infrastructure on the platform.

“Starting this November, TON Wallet will be included in the settings and attachment menus for all our users outside the U.S. and some other countries,” he announced on his official Telegram account. Telegram also unveiled growth forecasts at Token 2049, predicting that its active user count will increase from 800 million to 1.5 billion within the next 3 to 5 years.

Toncoin rose 6.2% over the past 24 hours to change hands for $2.43 at 1:00 p.m. ET, according to CoinGecko. It’s gained 45% over the past week.

Investors anticipating Fed rate pause

Investors, meanwhile, are eagerly anticipating Wednesday’s meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, with the consensus among analysts being that the Federal Reserve is not expected to alter rates from their current 5.25%-5.5% level.

CME’s Fedwatch Tool currently puts the odds of another rate hike in 2023 at around a 1 in 3.

“We believe along with the consensus that the committee will pause its hiking cycle, leaving the Fed Fund Rate unchanged at 5.5%, however, the most relevant piece of information will come from the statement and its tone,” Hernan Yellati, Head of Global Macro Research at crypto research firm CTF Capital, said in an emailed note.

The projections for the rest of the year from Fed Chair Jerome Powell during Wednesday’s press conference will serve as guidance for markets. Investors will be vigilant for signals of another rate increase in 2023.

“A hawkish tone will surely be perceived as negative for crypto assets whereas a neutral tone could set the base of the expectation of the end of the hiking cycle. The latter, if confirmed, will have an unambiguous positive impact in crypto asset prices, in our view,” Yellati added.

The world’s largest digital asset by market capitalization has jumped back from languishing in a three-month low, with bitcoin’s price climbing 2.6% over the past day to $27,217 at 1:00 p.m. ET, according to CoinGecko.

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