Bitcoin fluctuates at US$30,000; Ether wins; Litecoin, drop in XRP; US stocks fall on fears of recession

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Bitcoin dipped but held above US$30,000 in Thursday morning trading in Asia, which saw mixed performance among the top 10 unstable cryptocurrencies. Ethereum gained after the blockchain network upgraded on Wednesday, appearing to ignore concerns that the upgrade could put selling pressure on the Ether token. Solana continued to lead the winners as investors anticipate the launch of its first smartphone on Thursday. US stocks fell on Wednesday after March Federal Reserve minutes showed officials forecasting a recession in the second half of 2023, while the US consumer price index (CPI) in March pointed to falling inflation but tenacious.

Bitcoin fell 0.76% to US$30,008 within 24 hours of 9:00 a.m. in Hong Kong, but saw a weekly gain of 7.26%, according to data from CoinMarketCap. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has jumped over 80% since the start of the year.

Bitcoin buyers shrugged off renewed criticism from US investor Warren Buffet in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, where he called the cryptocurrency a gambling token with no intrinsic value.

Ethereum gained 1.10% to US$1,910, adding 0.79% for the week. Shanghai’s Ethereum blockchain upgrade activated on Wednesday and allows investors to withdraw their staked Ether for the first time. Some analysts expect the upgrade to trigger a drawdown of nearly $2.3 billion from Ether, or roughly 6% of the total value of staked Ether, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday.

Litecoin led the losers in the top 10, shedding 2.45% to trade at US$92.23. The token is fixed for the period of seven days.

XRP fell 2.06% to US$0.5041, but is still up 1.08% for the week. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday filed a letter supporting its case against Ripple Labs, which it accused of offering unregistered securities in the form of XRP. The letter cited the SEC’s case against investment adviser Commonwealth Equity Services, which involved a violation of securities laws and saw the defendants’ fair notice argument dismissed by the court.

Solana rose 2.49% to reach US$24.01, up 15.51% for the week. Solana Mobile, a subsidiary of Solana Labs, will launch its first Saga smartphone on Thursday, which integrates the Solana blockchain and allows users to perform on-chain transactions, manage digital assets and access a variety of decentralized applications.

The total crypto market capitalization fell 0.52% in the past 24 hours to US$1.23 trillion. Total trading volume in the past 24 hours increased by 13.33% to $48.60 billion.

In the non-fungible token (NFT) market, the Forkast 500 NFT index edged up 0.32% to 3,992.64 in the 24 hours at 09:00 HK, but was still down 0.48% for the week. The index is an indirect measure of global NFT market performance and includes 500 eligible smart contracts every day. It is operated by CryptoSlam, a sister company of Forkast.News under the Forkast.Labs umbrella.

US stocks closed lower on Wednesday after minutes from the Fed’s March meeting resurfaced worries about a recession, while Buffet in the same CNBC interview warned that the US banking system could face challenges. new tensions after the recent bankruptcies of a trio of lenders. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.11%, the S&P 500 fell 0.41% and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.85%.

At the March 21-22 meeting, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points and Fed officials forecast that the US economy could enter a mild recession later this year. Several Fed officials considered leaving interest rates unchanged, noting bank failures, but decided to raise rates due to high inflation.

U.S. gross domestic product is expected to rise 2.9% in the second quarter of 2023, but fall 0.3% in the third quarter and 0.1% in the fourth, according to data from Trading Economics.

The US CPI released on Wednesday rose 5% year on year in March, from 6% in February, and the smallest increase since May 2021. The number was below economists’ expectations of 5.2% and indicated a slowdown in inflation but is still well above the Fed’s target rate of around 2%, Reuters reported on Thursday. Core CPI excluding food and energy rose 5.6% year on year, accelerating from February.

US interest rates are currently between 4.75% and 5%, the highest since June 2006. CME Group analysts expect a 29.6% chance that the Fed will not raise interest rates. at its next meeting on May 3, while 70.4% expect a 25-basis point rate hike, up from 66.9% on Wednesday.

US equity futures traded flat to fall at 9:00 a.m. in Hong Kong. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.12%. S&P 500 futures fell 0.10%. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged down 0.02%.

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