Crypto-markets up as Bitcoin slips below $30k barrier
ALBAWABA – The Ripple cryptocurrency took the lead on crypto-markets around the world, as the Bitcoin slips further below the $30,000 barrier on Tuesday, for the second day in a row.
Year-to-date, Bitcoin has climbed 75.6 percent, after plummeting from over $60,000 in November 2021 through all of 2022, losing more than half of its value, according to Google Finance.
Bitcoin was priced at $29,158.80 Tuesday at 2:18 p.m. Amman time.
The year-to-date climb in a gauge of the top 100 digital tokens has cooled to 46 percent, not far above a 41 percent jump in the Nasdaq 100 Index of tech stocks, as reported by Bloomberg.
Ripple, on the other hand, or XRP, rose 78 percent after a United States (US) judge on July 13 ruled that the public sale of the cryptocurrency on public exchanges did not violate the securities law, according to Reuters. XRP issuer Ripple Labs had been selling their tokens on public exchanges, unlike other cryptocurrencies that are traded on special platforms.
Ripple is still 47 percent up, the Canada-based news agency said.
The cryptocurrency’s market cap has ballooned to $36 billion from $25 billion and its crypto market share to 3.5 percent, from 2 percent, before the ruling, according to CoinMarketCap.
Likewise, the crypto token co-founded by OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, Worldcoin, also shot right off, when it was launched Monday, but has since moderated, as reported by Bloomberg.
Worldcoin jumped to as high as $3.58 from the initial price of $1.70 but has fallen back to about $2, CoinMarketCap data showed. Roughly $625 million worth of the digital asset changed hands over the past 24 hours.
According to Bloomberg, all digital assets benefited from the court setback for the US regulators. The ruling therein legalizes spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, and other digital currencies.
Bitcoin slips explained
However, the much-anticipated European Union (EU) and US interest rate hikes are drawing investments out of the crypto-markets, and into the securities and bonds markets.
Higher interest rates raise bond yields, attracting investments away from relatively high-risk markets.
“The rally has lost momentum following the initial excitement sparked by the ETF news [the ruling], and there are no other visible catalysts on the horizon,” Caroline Mauron, co-founder of digital-asset derivatives liquidity provider OrBit Markets, told Bloomberg.
Bitcoin’s 20-week Bollinger bandwidth (horizontal range) has shrunk to the narrowest in seven years, Bloomberg reported.
In other words, moves in the world’s largest digital asset in may become more intense, potentially on a downward trajectory.
Bitcoin’s drop “should extend toward $26,000/$25,000 before finding support,” Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Australia Pty, wrote in a note, carried by Bloomberg.
This is ahead of the halving event in April 2024.
Will other crypto follows as Bitcoin slips
LiteCoin has dropped 3.38 percent in the last five days to $89.25. Ethereum fell 1.99 percent to $1,853.13 and Ethereum classic slipped 3.6 percent to $18.01, according to Google Finance.
Ripple slipped 13.65 percent from a high of $0.82 on July 18 to $0.69 Tuesday, still up 39.86 percent month-to-date.
