Bitcoin flat, most crypto top 10 fall as Fed indicates further rate hikes

Bitcoin traded little changed on Friday morning in Asia, while Ether fell along with most other non-stablecoin top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. XRP was the exception, rising on favorable developments in the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit against Ripple Labs Inc., whose payment network is powered by XRP.

See related article: Ripple gets support from Blockchain Association in XRP lawsuit against SEC

Fast facts

• Bitcoin traded 0.1% higher at $16,684 in the 24 hours to 8 a.m. in Hong Kong, while Ether fell 1.25% to $1,200, according to CoinMarketCap.

• XRP rose 1.7% to change hands at US$0.38 as US lobby group Blockchain Association joined other institutions in filing amicus briefs to support Ripple in its court battle with the SEC. “The SEC’s extremely broad interpretation of the securities laws will have devastating effects on the industry (and even outside the industry),” the Blockchain Association said in brief.

• Solana posted the biggest losses on CoinMarketCap’s list, falling 4.6% to US$13.62, adding to two weeks of decline amid the FTX.com collapse. The latest worry for Solana investors came from Binance Global Inc., the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, which flip-flopped on Solana-based variants of leading stablecoins USDT and USDC, saying on Thursday it was suspending withdrawals and deposits only to reverse itself some few. hours later.

• US stocks ended lower on Thursday, with their first back-to-back losses in two weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.02%, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite Index ended the day down 0.4%.

• St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said Thursday that the Fed’s benchmark interest rate may have to go as high as 7% to curb inflation. “So far, the change in monetary policy appears to have had only limited effects on observed inflation, but market prices suggest that disinflation is expected in 2023,” he said.

• The US Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates since March this year to try to curb inflation, raising them from near zero to a 15-year high of 3.75% to 4%. The Fed has signaled that it will continue to raise interest rates until inflation reaches a target of 2%.

• Recent data suggest that inflation is starting to moderate in the US as the producer price index released earlier this week showed wholesale prices rose 0.2% in October – below the 0.4% expected by analysts – while the consumer price index showed inflation running at 7.7% in October, down from 8.2% in September.

See related article: New FTX boss criticizes lack of proper corporate governance under Sam Bankman-Fried