Bitcoin Plunges Below US$30,000; Ether takes a break; Binance and Solana win the lead

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Bitcoin plunged early Monday morning in Asian trading to drop just below the US$30,000 mark. Ether also stalled after strong gains following last week’s upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain. Most of the other top 10 non-stable cryptocurrencies traded lower, with the exception of Solana, the BNB token of the Binance exchange, and Litecoin. US stock futures rose after last week’s gains, although they lost some steam on Friday amid a mixed outlook for the economy.

See related article: Kraken to withdraw $1.17 billion from staked Ether in accordance with SEC ruling and settlement

Fast facts

Bitcoin fell 1.47% to US$29,858 in the 24 hours to 9:00 a.m. in Hong Kong, but is still up 5.13% for the week, according to data from CoinMarketCap. The token briefly broke above US$31,000 on Friday, but then fluctuated above US$30,000 over the weekend.

Bitcoin’s gains last week came amid optimism around Ethereum’s upgrade and signs of slowing US inflation in March. Lower inflation generally encourages the buying of risky assets, including cryptocurrencies, said Marat Minkin, co-founder of decentralized financial payment app TONBanking. Cathy Wood, CEO of investment manager Ark Invest, said on Friday that uncertainty about the outlook for the US economy is also fueling the safe-haven message around cryptocurrencies.

Ethereum fell 0.40% to US$2,082. The token was up around 12% in the past seven days, which included the Wednesday upgrade in Shanghai that allows investors to withdraw their staked Ether. As of 9:00 a.m. in Hong Kong, more than 992,000 Ether had been withdrawn since Wednesday, while the withdrawal of another 897,000 Ether is pending, according to data from Token Unlocks. The two amounts represent approximately 10% of the total 17 million Ether staked.

Binances BNB led the winners and rose 3.07% to US$343.33, with a weekly gain of 9.79%. The world’s largest crypto exchange on Friday announced a partnership with the Brazilian Football Confederation to launch the country’s first non-fungible token (NFT) for the national football league.

Solana gained 3.01% to US$24.91, posting a weekly jump of 22.63%. Solana Mobile, a subsidiary of Solana Labs, on Thursday launched Saga, an Android smartphone integrated with the Solana blockchain. Solana Labs has also partnered with US beverage retailer Boba Guys for a chain loyalty program

The total crypto market capitalization fell 0.76% in the past 24 hours to US$1.26 trillion. Total trading volume in the past 24 hours increased by 13.46% to $38.86 billion.

In the NFT market, the Forkast 500 NFT index added 0.91% to 4,053.99 in the 24 hours to 9:00 a.m. in Hong Kong, up 2.98% 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 equity futures rose slightly at 9:00 a.m. in Hong Kong. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.19%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.17% and the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.01%.

All three indexes fell on Friday, although all posted gains for the week, as US economic data sent mixed news to investors on what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates at its next meeting. May 3. Consumer sentiment improved in April, according to a report on Friday, as retail sales fell in March, with both readings suggesting inflation is slowing.

However, first-quarter earnings from major banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co, beat expectations, suggesting a stronger economy that could stoke inflation, according to a Reuters report released. Friday.

US interest rates are currently between 4.75% and 5%, the highest since June 2006, and CME Group analysts now see a 17.9% chance that the Fed will not raise interest rates. interest at its next meeting on May 3, while 82.1% expect a rate hike of 25 basis points, compared to 66.5% last Friday.

See Related Article: Forkast NFT Indices Reveal Hidden Costs of y00ts, DeGods Moves Across Blockchains

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