Cryptocurrencies displayed continued weakness on Wednesday, with Bitcoin (BTC) falling below $61,000, contrasting sharply with U.S. stocks that reached new record highs.
BTC began the day around $62,000 but gradually declined throughout the U.S. trading session, settling at $60,400—a decrease of 2.4% over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, Ether (ETH) held up relatively better initially before dropping 3.2%.
Market concerns were likely heightened by reports of seized cryptocurrencies linked to the PlusToken Ponzi scheme being moved to exchanges, which raised fears of potential selling pressure. Chinese authorities had seized nearly $4 billion in crypto assets, including ETH, BTC, Dogecoin (DOGE), and XRP, from PlusToken operators back in November 2020. Notably, approximately 7,000 ETH, valued at around $16 million, was transferred to exchanges within the past 24 hours, suggesting an intention to sell.
Market Manipulation Charges Impact Microcaps
Strange developments were noted in less mainstream segments of the crypto market. U.S. federal prosecutors charged several crypto trading firms—Gotbit, ZM Quant, CLS Global, and MyTrade—along with their employees, for market manipulation and fraud. A 2019 CoinDesk report highlighted how Alexey Andryunin, co-founder of Gotbit, had built a business by inflating exchange volumes for small crypto tokens using trading bots to gain visibility on platforms like CoinMarketCap.
In the wake of these charges, the token Robo Inu (RBIF) experienced a brief surge, more than doubling in price for a moment, and ultimately remaining up 20% throughout the day, according to CoinGecko data.
Additionally, prosecutors created a cryptocurrency called NexFundAI Token for the investigation. A court document revealed that a token with the ticker NEX, which had negligible market value, surged as much as 3,500% as speculators rushed to capitalize on the news, only to see its price plummet afterward, as trading had been disabled prior to the charges being unsealed.
Mixed Signals from Traditional Markets
In traditional markets, the S&P 500 closed at a new all-time high, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.6%. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yields reached a two-month high of 4.08% as investors absorbed the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s September meeting.
The minutes indicated that a “substantial majority” of Federal Reserve officials supported a larger cut in interest rates, though opinions were split on the pace and size of future adjustments. Currently, traders assign a 21% probability that the Fed will maintain rates at the next meeting in November, a significant increase from zero a week prior, while expectations for another 50 basis point cut have diminished, down from 35%.
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