Bitcoin retreats above USD 28,000, XRP leads gains among top 10 cryptos

by James · March 29, 2023

Bitcoin rose above $28,000 in afternoon trading in Asia on Wednesday after losing ground earlier in the week as US regulators filed a lawsuit against Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, for allegedly violating trading rules. Ether and all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization also rose. Asian stocks mostly rose as a global banking sector crisis eased further, boosting investors’ risk appetite.

See related article: Binance sees $627 million in net Ethereum outflows after CFTC lawsuit

Fast facts

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, rose 4.09% to US$28,105 in the 24 hours to 16:00 in Hong Kong, but lost 0.03% for the week, according to CoinMarketCap data. Ethereum rose 4.69% to $1,805, bringing its weekly gain to 0.53%.
BNB, the native token of the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance, rose 2.34% to $316, after losing 6.11% in the past seven days. The gains come after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao rejected claims by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission in a lawsuit for allegedly violating trading mandates.
XRP was the biggest gainer among the top 10 cryptos, rising 15.23% to $0.5579, gaining 22% on the week.
Monica Long, president of Ripple Labs whose crypto payment network is powered by XRP, said in an exclusive interview with Discardthat “the consequences for the case [filed against Ripple by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission] is very far-reaching for the crypto industry because we expect that this decision will ultimately set a precedent for how the US government will view the categorization of crypto assets and regulate them.”
Cardano’s ADA token was the second biggest gainer among the top 10 cryptos on Wednesday, rising 9.07% to $0.381 in 24 hours, bringing its weekly gain to 1.42%.
Global crypto market capitalization rose 4.09% to $1.18 trillion, while total crypto market volume rose 1.74% to $44.18 billion.
Asian stock markets were mostly higher on Wednesday as market concerns over a global banking sector crisis eased further. Chinese tech giant Alibaba led the rally, with shares surging over 12% in Hong Kong after it announced a decision to split the company into six business units with plans to raise new funds as they explore IPOs.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 2.06% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.33%. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.16% while the Shenzhen Component Index gained 0.13%.
The Discard 500 NFT index rose 0.14% on the day, while it fell 2.83% on the week. The index is a proxy measure of the performance of the global NFT market and includes 500 eligible smart contracts on a given day.
European shares rose on Wednesday as investors welcomed data showing German consumer sentiment improved for a sixth straight month to the strongest level since last July. The STOXX 600 rose 0.69% and Germany’s DAX 40 rose 0.75%.
French authorities have raided five major banks (Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Natixis, HSBC and Exane) as part of an investigation into a potential money laundering and tax fraud case that may have cost the French and German authorities over 100 billion euros ($108.5 ). billion).
Gold fell 0.45% to trade at $1,964 an ounce, halting recent gains as fears over the global banking sector faded. Federal Reserve Bank deputy governor Michael Barr said Silicon Valley Bank’s problems were due to “terrible” risk management, indicating it may have been an isolated incident.
The dollar index rose 0.18% to 102.5 points on Wednesday, as demand for safe-haven assets fell among investors.
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