Bitcoin held on to the US$20,000 mark, but was trending weaker in late Wednesday afternoon trading in Asia. Ether was also moving lower, along with most other top 10 coins by market capitalization. Cardano was the standout on the list with a marginal gain.
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Fast facts
- Bitcoin fell 1.2% in the past 24 hours to trade at US$20,204 as of 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, after dropping as low as US$19,618 at one point earlier in the morning. Ethereum lost 1.34% to US$1,570, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
- Dogecoin was the biggest loser among CoinMarketCap’s top 10, logging a 2.68% 24-hour drop. Memecoin Shiba Inu, which ranks 14 by market cap, was off 3.14%.
- Cardano edged up a slight 0.02% to change hands at US$0.4546.
- Asia equity markets had a mixed day. The Shanghai Composite index closed down 0.78%, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng index went up a fractional 0.03%. The Nikkei 225 index was off 0.37%.
- Concern about higher interest rates to tame inflation is dogging financial markets in Europe and the U.S., and by extension cryptocurrency trading. However, the inflation picture in Asia is mixed, with authorities in the region’s two biggest economies, China and Japan, remaining outliers as Beijing cut rates this month and Tokyo has stuck with its ultra-low rate policy.
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