In addition to Fed commentary, industry watchers are also concerned over network decentralization after it was reported that two mining pools now control more than half of Bitcoin’s hashrate.

Bitcoin (BTC) eased to $113,600 in early Thursday trade after touching $114,800 late Wednesday, extending choppy moves across major tokens. Ethereum (ETH) and most top altcoins also advanced ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole on Friday.

Bitcoin’s price edged 0.2% higher in pre-market U.S. trading hours as retail sentiment on Stocktwits trended in the ‘bearish’ zone. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price gained as much as 2.5% in the last 24 hours, but retail sentiment around the cryptocurrency also trended in ‘bearish’ territory over the past day.

In addition to Fed commentary, industry watchers are also concerned over network decentralization after WhaleWire noted that two mining pools, Foundry USA and Antpool, now control more than half of Bitcoin’s hashrate. The disclosure comes days after Qubic claimed to have executed a 51% attack on Monero and announced plans to target Dogecoin.

Bitcoin-linked stocks were headed for a tepid opening during pre-market trading amid broader weakness in the market. Shares of Strategy (MSTR), the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, edged 0.75% lower. Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms (RIOT) stock slipped 1.36%, while shares of its peer, Mara Holdings (MARA), fell 1.5%. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global’s (COIN) stock was down 0.7%.

Meanwhile, shares of Ethereum-holding companies, Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) and FG Nexus (FGNX), were mixed during pre-market trade. BMNR’s stock dipped more than 2%, while FGNX’s stock gained more than 7%.

Other major altcoins, which include Solana (SOL), Ripple’s native token (XRP), Cardano (ADA), and meme token Dogecoin (DOGE), were in the green during early morning trade. Cardano’s price has the most gains, rising 3.2% in the last 24 hours, followed by BNB (BNB), which gained 2.7%. Solana’s price gained 2.9% and XRP’s price climbed 1.3%. Dogecoin’s price gained 2.4% over the past day.

The volatility in the crypto market led to more than $ 335 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, according to Coinglass data. Most of the liquidations came from short bets–traders who bet that the price of cryptocurrencies would rise, amounting to around $203 million. Long liquidations were around $131 million. 

Read also: Two Players Quietly Took Over Bitcoin’s Mining Power — Here’s Why It Matters

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<

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