Markets: Bitcoin, Ether fall; top 10 crypto mixed following Fed rate hike

Oisin Mcilroy

2 years ago

Bitcoin and Ether dropped in Thursday afternoon trading in Asia, while the rest of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins, posted mixed results. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index led losses in Asia-Pacific equity markets.

Fast facts

Bitcoin lost 0.63% in the past 24 hours to trade at US$20,304 at 4 p.m. in Hong Kong, while Ether fell 1.37% to US$1,544, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Polygon led gains among the top 10 cryptos, jumping 11.22% to US$0.96, with BNB rising 3.47% to US$334.25 and XRP inching 0.40% down to US$0.46.

Dogecoin led losses for the top 10 cryptos, slipping 4.79% to US$0.13 amid reports that new Twitter boss Elon Musk is preparing to cut 3,700 Twitter employees. Musk is an avid supporter of DOGE and has previously hinted he hopes to integrate the memecoin into Twitter as a payment method.

Asia equity markets fell following Wall Street’s sharp drops overnight. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index slumped 3.08%, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.19% and the Nikkei 225 was little changed, closing 0.06% down.

The U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday by 75 basis points, the fourth consecutive three-quarter point increase, to a target range of 3.75% to 4%, the highest since 2008. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at the FOMC press conference, it was “very premature to talk about a pause” in interest rate rises. The Fed has hinted, however, the rate hikes will begin to slow in December, but nevertheless continue until inflation returns to a target range of 2%.

Inflationary woes were also found in Turkey, where President Erdogan ruled out increasing interest rates even as inflation topped 85% year-on-year for October. Food prices rose 99% compared to the same period last year, housing was up 85%, and transport was 117% higher, according to reports from the Turkish Statistical Institute on Thursday.