Early Wednesday trade in Asia saw Bitcoin breach the US$19,000 resistance level for the second time in a week. Ether and the majority of the other cryptocurrencies in the top 10 by market capitalization fell. XRP was the exception, rising on news that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and token issuer Ripple Labs Inc. are requesting a summary judgment to end their protracted legal dispute.
According to CoinMarketCap, Ether lost 3.9% to US$1,323 in the last day, while Bitcoin dropped 3.3% to trade at US$18,886. Similar declines were seen in Solana, which fell 3.8% to US$31.42. The price of Dogecoin barely changed, falling 0.3% to US$0.058.
Since the eagerly anticipated “Merge” to a proof-of-stake network on September 14th, Ether has dropped 16% in the past seven days. The network from which Ethereum is forked, Ethereum Classic, dropped 4.9% to US$29.13, increasing its losses since the Merge to 17.5%.
In the top 10 on CoinMarketCap, only XRP increased, climbing 7.4% to $0.41. According to reports that Ripple and the SEC are requesting a summary judgment to conclude a lawsuit that started in December 2020 without going to trial, the coin rose to its highest price since late May overnight at US$0.4215. The SEC said in the lawsuit that selling XRP amounted to an issuance of unregistered securities valued more than US$1.38 billion.
Tuesday’s trading in U.S. stocks ended lower. The S&P 500 Index lost 1.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both lost 1%.
On the first day of its two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced that it would be raising interest rates by an additional 75 basis points to combat inflation.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has consistently stated that he will keep raising interest rates until inflation returns to a target level of 2% from the present pace of more than 8%, despite the risk of increased unemployment and poorer economic growth.
