Bitcoin fell in Friday evening trading in Asia to dip below the US$20,000 support line as the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization lost ground, led by Dogecoin and BNB.
See related articles: Markets: Bitcoin dips; BNB drops on chain glitch; Ether, XRP little changed
Fast facts:
- Bitcoin lost 1.39% in the past 24 hours to trade at US$19,930 at 4 p.m. in Hong Kong, while Ether fell 0.81% to US$1,355, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
- BNB slipped 3.21% to US$285.31 after the Binance token’s Twitter account said the BNB blockchain that hosts the token, was “suspended” after developers “determined a potential exploit,” later adding that the BNB chain was “running ok” from mid-afternoon Hong Kong time.
- Dogecoin dropped 3.26% to US$0.06324, though remained up 3.68% for the previous seven days following reports on Wednesday that Elon Musk — avid supporter and some-time advisor to the memecoin’s developers — would be proceeding with his purchase of Twitter.
- XRP lost 1.03% to US$0.4896, while Solana fell 1.93% to US$33.32. Cardano slipped 1.23% to trade at US$0.4274.
- Asia equity markets fell following Wall Street’s losses overnight. The Nikkei 225 closed 0.71% lower and the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index lost 1.49%. The Shanghai Composite Index remained closed for China’s Golden Week holiday.
- These shaky markets come ahead of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly job report, to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday. It is expected to announce the addition of 275,000 jobs in September, down from 315,000 in August, and an unemployment level of 3.7%, according to a survey by Dow Jones. While this number would suggest a slowing in the economy, it isn’t seen as enough to sway the U.S. Federal Reserve from its campaign of raising interest rates to beat back inflation.
See related articles: Binance suspends BNB blockchain on potential exploit; Peckshield reports US$572 mln hack