Bitcoin Back Above $29,000, Ether Wins; Matic leads the winners
Bitcoin and Ether both rose in early Thursday morning trading in Asia, with most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies mixed. Polygon’s Matic led the gainers on network updates, while Ripple’s XRP declined. U.S. stock futures fell, mirroring declines on Wall Street on Wednesday. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by the expected 25 basis points, but Fed chief Jerome Powell warned that inflation remains a threat, raising concerns that more rate hikes are in the pipeline. US lenders fell as investors remain unconvinced that the industry is out of the woods after a string of bank failures since March.
See related article: Fed Raises Rates by a Quarter Point, Bitcoin Falls 0.48%
Crypto
Bitcoin moved back above the $29,000 resistance line, gaining 1.23% to $29,032 in the 24 hours to 8:00 a.m. in Hong Kong, according to CoinMarketCap data. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has gained 2.12% in the past seven days, breaking its 20-day moving average.
Bitcoin is up 75% so far this year, and Standard Chartered Bank has predicted it could hit $60,000 this year, given that the banking woes in the US could convince some investors of Bitcoin’s role as a safe haven.
Ether, the second-largest token, rose 1.84% to $1,905, up 2.06% for the week. The rest of the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market cap were mixed.
Polygon’s Matic led the gainers, rising 2.99% to $1.01, adding to its weekly gain of 2.03%. On Wednesday, Polygon said it was added updates to the network to improve the use of decentralized applications, or dApps.
Ripple fell 0.32% to $0.4635.
Memecoins such as Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have also gained this year, and Gordon Grant, co-head of trading at digital currency prime brokerage Genesis Trading, said failing banks could be a reason.
“The rise of meme coins in the midst of a widespread banking crisis is not necessarily surprising. In the midst of unstable banking systems, individuals may question the validity of their deposits and even the meaning of money,” Grant said in an emailed comment.
“If bank deposits can theoretically evaporate overnight, it shouldn’t be a surprise that there is a marginal propensity to put money into a token with no obvious use other than the chance to sell at a higher price later.”
Total crypto market capitalization rose 1.14% over the past 24 hours to $1.20 trillion, while trading volume increased 19.42% to $41.97 billion.
NFTs
In the non-fungible token (NFT) market, the Forkast 500 NFT Index fell 1.69% to 3,648.07 in the 24 hours to 8:00 AM in Hong Kong, falling 1.65% for the week.
“I think it’s related to gas [fees]. It’s very high today, and people commented on it when they minted (or chose not to mint because of it),” said Yehudah Petscher, NFT strategist at Forkast Labs.
In other NFT developments, South Korea’s leading blockchain game maker Wemade Bored Ape Golf Club (BAGC) launched NFT collection on its platform on Wednesday.
The golf-themed variation of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club collection had 40,000 concurrent users during the pre-sale period last year, according to Wemade’s press release. Wemade, established in 2000, serves several games to serve video games globally, including MIR4, and recorded over $83 million in sales in the fourth quarter of 2022.
And on Wednesday, US prosecutors issued a warning to NFT trading platforms by charging Nathaniel Chastain, the former head of product at the OpenSea NFT marketplace, with money laundering and fraud in what they called the “first-ever digital asset insider trading scheme.”
Stock
U.S. stock futures fell at 8 a.m. in Hong Kong. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 0.41%, S&P 500 futures fell 0.37%, and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.03%. The three indexes all closed lower in regular Wednesday trading.
The US central bank has raised interest rates by the expected 25 basis points to between 5 and 5.25%, the highest level since 2006. The Fed has repeatedly raised interest rates in the past year to try to bring inflation down to the 2% target range. The inflation rate in March was 5%, according to the US Bureau of Statistics.
In announcing the increase, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell tempered expectations that the Fed is now set to pause its policy of raising interest rates, saying the bank is “prepared to do more if greater restraint in monetary policy is necessary,” during a news conference.
Nigel Green, chief executive of financial advisory firm deVere Group, said raising interest rates amid growing uncertainty about the health of US banks was a mistake and could push the world’s biggest economy into a long-term recession.
“First, the crisis in the US financial system is still not over. There remain serious and legitimate concerns that after a series of bank failures, more may be coming, Green said in an emailed statement.
Another US inflation indicator will arrive this week when April jobs figures are released on Friday.
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