Fears of further regulatory action against the cryptocurrency industry and hawkish comments from Fed officials dragged crypto prices lower early on Thursday.
Sentiment was dampened over reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission had commenced investigations into cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. Bloomberg Law had earlier reported that Kraken, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges is embroiled in a probe by a top U.S. financial regulator over whether it broke securities rules related to certain offerings to American clients.
Rumours that the SEC was contemplating a staking ban for retail investors also swayed sentiment.
Amidst anxiety over the Fed officials’ comments, data released just a while ago by the U.S. Department of Labor showed initial jobless claims in the week ended February 4 at 196 thousand versus expectations of 190 thousand and previous month’s nine-month low reading of 183 thousand. Despite the Fed taking cognizance of disinflation in the economy, the strength of the labor market is perceived as an important determinant of Fed’s interest rate strategy.
The Dollar Index remained weak at 102.87 but did not suffice to lift the prices of the Dollar-denominated cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin traded between $23,134.90 and $22,458.26 in the past 24 hours. At its current price of $22,742.86, Bitcoin is trading with overnight losses of 1.7 percent and weekly losses of 4.3 percent. On a year-to-date basis, the leading cryptocurrency is holding on to gains of more than 36 percent.
Ethereum dropped more than 2 percent overnight and is currently changing hands at $1,639.67. Ether has shed 1.9 percent in the past week but is still 36 percent higher on a year-to-date basis.
10th ranked Polygon (MATIC) resisted the bearish sentiment to gain 0.42 percent in the past 24 hours.
13th ranked Shiba Inu (SHIB) declined more than 6 percent overnight.
21st ranked Chainlink (LINK) also bucked the trend to rise more than 5 percent in the past 24 hours.
30th ranked Lido DAO (LDO), the native utility token of Lido, a DAO that provides a liquid staking service for Ethereum 2.0, has added 4.6 percent in the past 24 hours, 14.6 percent in the past week and 143 percent in 2023 amidst rumors of a staking ban by SEC.
86th ranked Rocket Pool (RPL) that gained 11 percent is the highest overnight gainer among the top 100 cryptocurrencies.
96th ranked Render Token (RNDR) was the biggest laggard with an overnight decline of more than 14 percent.
Overall crypto market capitalization dropped 1.7 percent overnight to $1.06 trillion, versus $1.09 trillion a day earlier amidst a growing clamor for regulatory clarity for the crypto industry.
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