Bitcoin, Ether Coincides With Most Top 10 Cryptos; US futures rise ahead of debt ceiling negotiations

Bitcoin and Ether fell during Friday afternoon trading in Asia, along with most of the 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, except for the XRP token. Most Asian shares fell despite data reflecting an economic recovery in Hong Kong. US stock futures strengthened for a second session in a row, as talks to raise the debt ceiling are set to resume in the world’s largest economy.

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Crypto market falls as Bitcoin falls below USD 27,000

Bitcoin fell 4.14% to US$26,293 in the 24 hours to 16:30 in Hong Kong, according to CoinMarketCap data. The daily decline of the world’s first cryptocurrency was the biggest daily decline in the top 10 coins by market capitalization.

“Bitcoin must hold [US$26,111] for continued bullish momentum,” said Nilesh Verma, crypto market analyst and founder of Crypto Granth consultancy. Discard. “We believe we will see strong buying near USD 25,000-26,000,” he added.

Ether fell 3.48% in the last 24 hours to trade at $1,757, falling below $1,800 for the second time this week.

The Beacon chain of the Ethereum network in brief stopped validating transactions early Friday morning, with Ethereum developers tweeting later that the power outage had been resolved and the cause was still under investigation.

The XRP token was the only one in the green, rising 0.75% to $0.4271.

Global crypto market cap fell 2.81% to $1.1 trillion, while total crypto market volume fell 9.30% to $42.22 billion in the last 24 hours.

NFT sales on Ethereum are falling

In the NFT market, the Forkast 500 NFT index fell 2.21% to 3,363.89 points in the 24 hours to 16:30 in Hong Kong and fell 7.77% for the week.

NFT trading is slowing due to the recent memecoin hype, with very few new users entering the space, according to Eric Dettman, NFT advisor at CryptoSlam. NFT buyers on the Ethereum blockchain totaled 45,298 in the past seven days, a drop of 72.97%.

24-hour NFT sales on Ethereum fell 51.7% to US$16.3 million, following yesterday’s strong session. Sales for Bored Ape Yacht Club, the largest Ethereum-native NFT collection, fell 60.02% to $2.4 million, while sales for Mutant Ape Yacht Club also fell 61.78% to $1.4 million. 24-hour sales for Milady Maker fell 88.83% to $864,000, after generating over $9.6 million in sales for the network on Thursday.

As for today’s most notable NFT transactions, Bored Ape #6805 sold for $349,967 3 hours ago and CryptoPunk #1232 sold for $148,324 8 hours ago, according to CryptoSlam data.

Most Asian stocks fall; US futures rise for the second session in a row

Asian shares fell on Friday, trailing losses on Wall Street, except for Japan’s Nikkei 225 which rose 0.9%. The Shanghai Composite fell 1.12%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.59% and the Shenzhen Component Index fell 1.23%

Investors reacted negatively to government data showing Hong Kong’s economy grew 2.7% year-on-year in the first quarter, recovering from a 4.1% decline in the previous quarter, which undercut the Hang Seng Index by the day. The expansion was Hong Kong’s first economic recovery since the fourth quarter of 2022, mainly supported by a recovery in the tourism sector and domestic demand

US stock futures rallied for a second straight trade, after consumer prices fell more than expected in April and bolstered expectations that the Federal Reserve will halt rate hikes.

Overnight, the US jobless rate rose, adding to market concerns about a potential recession, with the labor market one of the pillars supporting the economy.

The S&P 500 futures index rose 0.39%, the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.22% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.41%.

The US dollar index rose 0.06% to 102.1 points, set for its first weekly gain in three weeks. The euro was down 0.07% at $1.09, its lowest in three weeks.

President Joe Biden is set to continue negotiations to raise the debt ceiling later today, to keep the US government solvent. Wednesday’s talks on the matter ended without any agreement in sight.

The Bank of England raised interest rates by 25 basis points on Thursday, marking its 12th consecutive increase, and raised borrowing costs to 4.5% – the highest since October 2008.

London’s benchmark FTSE 100 rose 0.47% on Friday, after three consecutive sessions of losses, after data showed Britain’s economy grew 0.1% in the first quarter of the year, in line with market expectations.

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