Bitcoin fell in Thursday morning trading in Asia but held above the US$20,000 support line. Ether also lost ground. XRP was the only token in the cryptocurrency top 10 by market capitalization to gain.
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Fast facts
- Bitcoin fell 0.9% in the past 24 hours to change hands at US$20,166 at 8 a.m. in Hong Kong. Ether dropped 0.7% to US$1,353, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
- The leading memecoin Dogecoin was the biggest loser in the top 10, falling 2.2% to US$0.06, Cardano fell 1.1% to US$0.43, while Solana was little changed, dipping 0.2% to US$34.07.
- XRP rose 2% to US$0.49 following news that Ripple Labs Inc., the firm whose payment network is powered by XRP, was listed in the CB Insights Fintech 250 for 2022 as one of the world’s most promising Fintech companies.
- XRP prices remain volatile in the face of seesaw developments in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) ongoing lawsuit against Ripple, which was originally filed in 2020 with the SEC alleging Ripple had sold tokens as unregistered securities. On Tuesday, the SEC objected to motions from two firms that had requested amicus briefs supporting Ripple.
- U.S. equities were little changed on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Index both fell 0.2%.
- Markets flattened from a strong start to the week following data that showed the U.S. economy is still running strong with businesses adding 208,000 jobs in September — more than forecast and up from 185,000 in August — according to payroll services firm ADP on Wednesday.
- This is seen as another signal the pace of inflation isn’t slowing and points to further interest rate increases ahead by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Inflation is now running at 8.3% in the U.S. and the Fed has said it wants it back in the target range of 2%.
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