Bitcoin traded below US$19,000 Thursday afternoon in Asia after dropping below that resistance level earlier, following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates by 75 basis points. Ether also fell. XRP was the biggest gainer among the 10 largest coins by market capitalization, while most other top 10 tokens were little changed.
See related article: Markets: Bitcoin price falls below US$19,000, Ether slumps, XRP drops on lawsuit delay
Fast facts
- Bitcoin dipped 0.1% in the past 24 hours to trade at US$18,934 at 4 p.m. in Hong Kong. Ethereum fell 4% to US$1,278, and logged a 21.8% seven-day decline, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
- XRP, the native token of XRP Ledger that powers Ripple’s payment network, gained 5.3% to change hands at US$0.4231, and has risen 24% over the past seven days. Cryptocurrency lobby group Chamber of Digital Commerce on Wednesday received court approval to weigh in on the lawsuit between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple Labs.
- Asia equity markets tumbled following Wall Street’s fall overnight. The Hong Kong Hang Seng index lost 1.6% and fell to its lowest since 2011. The Shanghai Composite index closed down 0.3%, and the Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.6%.
- Following the Fed’s move, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the city’s de facto central bank, on Thursday raised its base rate by 75 basis points to 3.5%. This came after the Fed raised rates and warned of more increases to come to rein in inflation.
- Eddie Yue, chief executive of the HKMA, said on Thursday that the public should be prepared for banks to increase commercial interest rates, and “carefully assess and manage the relevant risks when making property purchase, mortgage or other borrowing decisions.”
See related article: Cryptocurrency lobby group gets court approval to weigh in on SEC vs Ripple’s XRP lawsuit