Bitcoin Back Above USD 17,000, Ether Wins Along With Other Top 10 Cryptos

Bitcoin traded above US$17,000 on Monday morning in Asia, with all 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market cap gaining ground. Investors see inflation fears easing in the US, the world’s largest economy, while China has begun to ease Covid-19 restrictions in many cities, raising expectations that the world’s second-largest economy will get back on track after GDP this year slowed to around . 3% from a target of 5.5%.

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Fast facts

• Bitcoin rose 1.3% to US$17,127 in the 24 hours to 08:00 in Hong Kong, while Ether rose 3% to US$1,278, according to data on CoinMarketCap.

• Leading memecoin Dogecoin rose 4.4% to $0.104, leading CoinMarketCap’s chart gains, while Polygon added 2% to $0.92. Polkadot and memecoin Shiba Inu both rose more than 1.5%.

• Total crypto market capitalization rose 1.3% to $858 billion, while trading volume fell 1.8% to $30.7 billion.

• China has begun to ease its so-called zero-Covid-19 control measures with several cities dropping requirements for proof of negative tests for entry into public spaces.

• Shanghai city authorities said in a Sunday statement that starting Monday, they will stop checking PCR test results for residents to enter public venues or take public transportation. Hangzhou, where Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding is headquartered, also announced on Sunday that it would not require passengers on public transport to present negative PCR test results. Asian equity markets opened mostly higher on the trend.

• US stocks had a mixed trading day on Friday. The S&P 500 index fell 0.1% and the Nasdaq fell 0.2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%.

• The US jobs report released on Friday showed the economy added 263,000 jobs in November or more than expected by 200,000, while the unemployment rate is at a near 50-year low of 3.7%. Although higher than expected, it is a slower pace of growth than the 284,000 jobs added in October and the 269,000 in September, suggesting that inflation is generally easing.

• US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last week that the central bank may begin to ease the pace of rate hikes. The Fed is expected to raise interest rates by 50 basis points in the meeting on 13-14. December, down from 75 basis points in the previous four meetings.

• The Fed has been raising interest rates since March to try to curb inflation, rising from near zero to a 15-year high of 3.75% to 4%, and has signaled that rates could end up exceeding 5%. The Fed has said it wants inflation at a target of 2 percent. The consumer price index showed that inflation was 7.7% in October, down from 8.2% in September.

• The group of 23 oil-producing nations, known as OPEC+, decided on Sunday to maintain existing production cuts of 2 million barrels a day, or about 2% of global supply, until the end of 2023.

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