Bitcoin holds near $64,000 as U.S. inflation data looms, Harmony exploit rattles altcoins
SummaryHarmony confirmed a suspected exploit after an attacker minted roughly 4 billion ONE tokens via empty blocks, equal to about 26% of total supply, sending the token to a record low.The July U.S. CPI print is due at 12:30 UTC and is the main macro event of the day. Brent crude is near $90 a barrel after fresh Houthi attacks on shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and a US strike on a vessel in the Gulf of Oman overnight, complicating the inflation picture.Bitcoin is up 0.23% since midnight UTC at around $63,979, with Fear and Greed at 38 and total market cap holding at $2.19 trillion. Crypto markets were steady on Wednesday as traders absorbed a protocol exploit while waiting for a U.S. inflation report that often sets the tone for risk assets. Harmony, a layer-1 blockchain network for DeFi protocols and marketplaces. confirmed it had been hit by an exploit early in the Asian day. An attacker minted some 4 billion ONE tokens through empty blocks, representing about 26% of the tokens circulating supply. Around 2.8 billion of the tokens were quickly funneled to exchanges, pushing ONE down as much as 40% to a record low. Broader markets were also little changed