Bitcoin dipped on Monday morning in Asia to trade at around US$26,500. Ether also moved lower but held the US$1,600 support level.
Bitcoin dipped on Monday morning in Asia to trade at around US$26,500. Ether also moved lower but stayed above its US$1,600 support level. Most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies dropped, with Toncoin leading the losers with a slide of over 4%.
Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX received court approval last week to sell its crypto holdings of around US$3.4 billion, which could add to the selling pressure in the crypto market — especially altcoins — for the rest of the year. U.S. stock futures edged up as investors await the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision this week. Wall Street closed lower on Friday, as mixed economic data in the U.S. moderated the investor’s risk appetite.
Bitcoin, Ether dip; selling pressure from FTX liquidation
Bitcoin edged down 0.18% in the last 24 hours to US$26,492.52 as of 07:30 a.m. in Hong Kong and went up 2.60% for the week, according to CoinMarketCap data. The world’s largest cryptocurrency reached US$26,840.50 on Friday, the highest price since August 17.
Ether dipped 0.87% to US$1,619.94 and traded flat for the week with a 0.18% uptick.
Most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies booked losses in the past 24 hours. Binance’s BNB token was the only exception, rising 0.66% to US$216.23 while adding 1.80% for the week.
Despite the uptick in BNB prices, the world’s largest crypto exchange faces mounting regulatory challenges. The firm’s U.S. affiliate Binance.US has laid off one-third of its staff and saw its Chief Executive Officer Brian Shroder leave the company last week, citing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) “aggressive attempts to cripple” the crypto industry. The exchange also lost its legal and risk executives last week, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The crypto market is facing pressure from the liquidation of FTX, which plans to sell its US$3.4 billion worth of crypto assets by the end of 2023. The bankrupt exchange’s top three crypto holdings are Solana (US$1.162 million), Bitcoin (US$560 million) and Ether (US$192 million).
FTX said it will gradually sell the holdings with a US$100 million weekly cap to avoid a negative impact on crypto prices, but this limit could expand to US$200 million upon approval from two committees representing FTX customers.
“Sales of this size are destined to have an impact,” wrote blockchain research firm K33 on Friday. “Especially altcoins with limited liquidity are exposed, making it vital for altcoin traders to maintain comprehensive oversight of FTX’s holdings.”
The ongoing Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications in the U.S. could also be contributing to the underperformance of altcoins, said Justin d’Anethan, head of Asia-Pacific business development at Belgium-based crypto market maker Keyrock.
“This is probably led by investors betting on ETFs becoming a thing -at some point in the future — and not wanting to miss out. Conversely, altcoins that are still at risk of being labelled as ‘securities’ aren’t benefitting from the same enthusiasm,” said d’Anethan.
The total crypto market capitalization dipped 0.73% in the past 24 hours to US$1.05 trillion, while trading volume dropped 12.08% to US$17.53 billion.
