Crypto markets experienced significant declines following the Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday to maintain current interest rates. Chair Jerome Powell’s cautious remarks regarding a potential rate cut in September, coupled with escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, have contributed to investor unease. In a bold move, Iranian authorities ordered retaliation against Israel for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, further unsettling the market. As a result, Bitcoin is trading around $64,500 in the European morning session, marking a 2.5% drop over the past 24 hours. The broader digital asset market has seen a nearly 4.24% decline, as reflected by the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20).

Riot Platforms Reports Increased Losses Amid Market Volatility

Bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms reported a threefold increase in its second-quarter losses, reaching over $84 million, or $0.32 per share. The rise in selling, general, and administrative expenses to $61.2 million, driven largely by stock compensation expenses from new grants under a long-term incentive program, contributed to the substantial loss. Additionally, a $76.4 million decrease in the fair value of the company’s Bitcoin holdings exacerbated the net loss. The April Bitcoin halving, which reduced the block reward by 50%, also impacted Riot’s production, resulting in the mining of only 844 BTC, a 52% decrease compared to the previous year.

Read more: Hypersphere Investment Firm Introduces $130M Crypto Market Fund

Ripple Ventures into Tokenized U.S. Treasury Bills

In a strategic move, Ripple announced a $10 million allocation towards a tokenized version of U.S. Treasury bills (T-bills) on the XRP Ledger. The TBILL tokens, issued by the tokenization platform OpenEden, represent short-term U.S. government debt backed by assets invested in short-dated U.S. Treasuries and reverse repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. Treasuries. This initiative highlights the burgeoning sector of asset tokenization within the crypto industry, facilitating the issuance, management, and distribution of traditional assets, particularly private and alternative assets, in a more efficient manner compared to off-chain methods.