First Mover Asia: Bitcoin Tumbles After Crossing $20K in Topsy-Turvy Trading; How Chinese Universities Teach Blockchain

The largest crypto by market capitalization had spiked over $20,000 in morning trading.

Prices: Bitcoin started promisingly before sinking along with other cryptos in a topsy-turvy day.
Insights: Chinese universities continue to teach blockchain technology but employers, teachers and students are also looking outside educational institutions to further their interests. (This story is part of CoinDesk’s Education Week series.).

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The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was recently trading just over $19,100, down about a percentage point for the previous 24 hours. BTC had surged above the psychologically important $20,000 threshold during morning hours (UTC) for the first time in nine days before clattering downward to more lately familiar levels.
Bitcoin’s rise and fall came as investors initially may have tried to anticipate cryptos’ historically bullish October by adding to their holdings. And two unexpectedly strong economic indicators may have also buoyed their spirits before. But investors later recoiled over inflation and recession fears that have plagued asset markets of all stripes for months.
Ether was recently changing hands at approximately $1,330, also flat from the previous day and its highest perch in more than a week. Most other major cryptos spent the day in red territory, with UST recently off about 7% and XRP down more than 5%. Celsius Network’s native token CEL spiked late Tuesday after reports that FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried could bid on the bankrupt crypto bank’s assets. The token had nosedived earlier Tuesday after the surprise departure of Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky.
The CoinDesk Market Index (CDI), an index measuring cryptos’ performance, was recently down slightly and about where it has stood for much of the past week. The Fear & Greed index, a measure of market sentiment about crypto, remains in extreme fear territory.
Stocks
Crypto price patterns dovetailed with equity markets that jumped earlier in the day before tumbling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), which entered bear market territory a day earlier, meaning it fell at least 20% from its previous high, closed a few fractions of a percentage point lower. The S&P 500, also dropped slightly, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.2%.
Investors remain worried about inflation and continued central bank hawkishness that seems increasingly likely to throw the global economy into recession. Unexpectedly strong reports on durable goods orders, which sank less than projected, and housing starts, are likely to embolden the Federal Reserve to continue its recent policy of aggressive interest rate increases.

Fed Comments
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, reiterated the bank’s commitment to restore «price stability.»

Earlier in the day, at an event hosted by the French central bank Tuesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that regulation of decentralized finance (DeFi) needs to be done “carefully and thoughtfully,” given its limited impact on the real economy. “The DeFi winter … didn’t have significant effects on the banking system and broader financial stability” due to the lack of links between them, Powell told a panel.

As bitcoin climbed above $20,000 on Tuesday, Oanda Senior Market Analyst Edward Moya called its resiliency «impressive.» But Moya was less than sanguine about any significant prices increases in the near future. «Bitcoin doesn’t have a catalyst to extend much higher, but a stabilization is a welcome sign for long-term bulls. ​

marked the beginning of a tectonic change for blockchain education in China.
Speaking before the politburo of the Communist Party of China in Beijing on that day, President Xi Jinping said the country needs to «seize the opportunity» afforded by blockchain technology. These words would set forth China’s ambitious agenda to take a leading role in the global development of this emerging technology.