Markets: Bitcoin price falls below US$19,000, XRP gains on SEC lawsuit developments, Ether post-Merge slide continues

Lachlan Keller

2 years ago

Bitcoin fell below the US$19,000 resistance level for the second time in a week in early Wednesday trading in Asia. Ether and most other tokens in the cryptocurrency top 10 by market capitalization lost ground. XRP was the exception, gaining on news the token’s issuer, Ripple Labs Inc, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are seeking a summary judgment to end their protracted lawsuit.

Fast facts

Bitcoin fell 3.3% in the past 24 hours to trade at US$18,886 at 8 a.m. in Hong Kong, while Ether lost 3.9% to US$1,323 according to CoinMarketCap. Solana saw similar losses, dropping 3.8% to US$31.42. Dogecoin was little changed, dipping 0.3% to US$0.058.
Ether has fallen 16% in the seven days since the much-anticipated “Merge” to a proof-of-stake network on Sept. 14. Ethereum Classic, the network from which Ethereum is forked, fell 4.9% to US$29.13, bringing its losses since the Merge to 17.5%.
XRP was the sole gainer in CoinMarketCap’s top 10, gaining 7.4% to US$0.41. The token reached its highest price since late May overnight at US$0.4215 on reports Ripple and the SEC are seeking a summary judgment to end a lawsuit that began in December 2020 without going to trial. In the lawsuit, the SEC alleged the sale of XRP constituted an offering of unregistered securities worth over US$1.38 billion.
U.S. equities ended Tuesday trading lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1%, while the S&P 500 Index lost 1.1%.
The U.S. Federal Reserve began its two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on Tuesday where it is expected to raise interest rates by a further 75 basis points to curb inflation.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has repeatedly said despite the risk of higher unemployment and weaker economic growth, he will continue to raise interest rates until inflation falls back to a target level of 2% from the current rate of more than 8%. “These are the unfortunate costs of reducing inflation,” he said at the Fed’s annual symposium last month. “But a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain.”