Bitcoin and Ether rallied in Asian trading on Tuesday afternoon. BNB was the biggest loser across the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies.
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Fast facts
- Bitcoin rose 1.51% to US$17,182 in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, while Ether added 1.72% to trade at US$1,267, according to CoinMarketCap.
- BNB, the native token of crypto exchange Binance Global Inc., fell 5.11% to US$266.48. BNB has been hit by reports that a review of Binance’s assets may have raised red flags and that the exchange is under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.
- Net outflows from the Binance exchange in the past 24 hours until Tuesday morning stood as high as US$902 million.
- Reuters reported on Monday that U.S. prosecutors have evidence that Binance violated “anti-money laundering and international sanctions,” but said prosecutors in the U.S. Justice Department are split over whether they have enough evidence to charge Binance executives.
- A Binance spokesperson cited in the Reuters story said: “We don’t have any insight into the inner workings of the US Justice Department, nor would it be appropriate for us to comment if we did.” The Justice Department declined to comment, according to Reuters.
- “Ignore FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). Keep building!” said Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao on Twitter on Monday after the Reuters’ report was published.
- XRP rose 2.42% to US$0.3829. Charles Hoskinson, founder of blockchain network Cardano, said on Saturday that there is speculation that Ripple’s lawsuit with the US Securities and Exchange Commission would soon end with a settlement.
- Tron gained 1.35% to US$0.05287. After the Justin Sun-backed algorithmic stablecoin USDD lost its parity with the US dollar and fell below US$0.97 on Monday. Sun tweeted that more than US$203,000 in USDC and US$570,000 in USDT have been swapped for USDD to back the dollar. As of 5 p.m. in Hong Kong, USDD remained below US dollar parity and was trading at US$0.9755.
- Asia markets were mixed following Wall Street’s rally overnight. The Nikkei 225 dropped 0.4%, the Shanghai Composite Index inched down 0.085%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.68%.
- Hong Kong said Tuesday it will lift all restrictions on entry to the city starting Wednesday, after China significantly eased Covid-19 restrictions. Hong Kong’s gross domestic product is estimated to grow 7.6% as exports and tourism revenue could climb after China’s reopening, reported Hong Kong local media The Standard on Monday, citing a Goldman Sachs report.
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