Investors sold stocks, especially shares of banks, and other risky assets ahead of the U.S. jobs report on Friday. Bitcoin has lost 9% over the last 24 hours, dropping below $20,000, a level the cryptocurrency hasn’t fallen below since mid-January. On Thursday, $250 million in long positions in bitcoin was liquidated, according to data from Coinglass. The wider crypto market also fell on Friday, after a week of interest-rate fears and the collapse of crypto-focused Silvergate Bank.
Bitcoin’s 24-hour price chart
Crypto exchange Huobi has created a $100 million liquidity fund to protect against precipitous drops in its HT token, in response to the token suddenly falling 93% on Thursday. Justin Sun, founder of the Tron blockchain and a large HT holder, confirmed a transfer of $100 million. The rapid drop and then rebound was caused by “leveraged liquidation on the market caused by a few users,” according to a tweet by Sun.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James sued KuCoin on Thursday, alleging the Seychelles-based crypto exchange is violating securities laws by offering tokens – including ether – that meet the definition of a security without registering with the attorney general’s office. The suit is the first time a regulator has claimed in court that ether is a security.
Market Insight: Ether Falls to 2-Month Low
Ether, the native token of Ethereum’s blockchain, slipped to a two-month low early Friday as regulatory uncertainty and problems at a key lender for tech firms zapped investors’ risk appetite.
According to one observer, the selling pressure for ether came mainly from Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN). Ether fell to $1,392, its lowest price since Jan. 12, amounting to a 24-hour decline of more than 8%, CoinDesk data show.
Data tracked by South Korea-based CryptoQuant show ether’s Coinbase premium index, which measures the gap between ETH’s dollar-denominated price on Coinbase and ETH’s tether-denominated price on crypto exchange Binance, slipped to its lowest level since Jan. 18.
The chart shows the momentum of most measures of the U.S. Consumer Price Index has weakened since August 2022.
The market has recently raised its forecast for the peak Federal Reserve rate to 6.5%. A continued loss of inflation momentum would test those hawkish expectations, bringing relief to risky assets.
The February CPI, which is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, is likely to show a 0.2% increase, translating into 6.2% annual growth.
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Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments.
