Bitcoin broke the US$23,000 resistance line in Tuesday afternoon trading in Asia, with most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization also higher. Polkadot and BNB led gains, with equity markets higher on expectations of less aggressive rate hikes by the U.S. central bank.
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Fast facts
- Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, gained 1.6% to US$23,059 at 4 p.m. in Hong Kong on Tuesday, after gaining 9.12% over the week. Ethereum inched up 0.13% to US$1,635 in the same 24 hours, a gain of 4.63% in the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.
- Polkadot led gains, rising 5.16% to US$6.61 on the day and gaining 10.03% on the week. The increase comes amid the successful start of XCM cross-consensus message format version 3, one of Polkadot’s interoperability initiatives and that reportedly improves cross-chain communication.
- Binance’s token BNB strengthened 4.84% to US$318, a gain of 5.99% on the week, after Binance said Signature Bank will not handle transactions of less than US$100,000 for Signature’s crypto exchange customers from February.
- Many Asian equity markets were closed on Tuesday for the Lunar New Year celebrations. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.46% and India’s Sensex gained 0.12% at 3.08 p.m. local time.
- Cathie Wood, chief executive and chief investment officer of ARK Investment Management, expects the U.S. Federal Reserve to pivot from its interest rate stance in 2023 after recent economic indicators suggested inflation has peaked in the U.S.
- The Fed will meet next on Jan. 31 to Feb. 1 to decide on interest rates. Analysts from CME Group anticipate a 99.8% chance of a 25 basis point increase.
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