Bitcoin, Ether fall; Dogecoin surges as Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition moves forward

Bitcoin’s recent gains stalled in trading on Friday morning in Asia, although it remained above the $20,000 support line. Data released on Thursday showed that US gross domestic product (GDP) beat expectations in the 3rd quarter, a sign that interest rates may continue rise. Ether also fell, along with most other top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins. Leading memecoin Dogecoin was the only one on the list to rise, amid the pending sale of social media platform Twitter Inc. to longtime Dogecoin advocate Elon Musk.

See related article: The world’s largest Bitcoin miner Core Scientific’s stock is falling amid a liquidity crisis

Fast facts

• Bitcoin fell 2.3% to US$20,287 in the 24 hours to 8 a.m. in Hong Kong, while Ether lost 3.3% to US$1,514, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Cardano saw the biggest drop of 3.7% among the top 10 to $0.38, followed by Polygon which also fell 3.7% to $0.90.

• Dogecoin rose 5.9% to $0.076, although it pulled back from an overnight high of $0.084, its highest since mid-August. The world’s leading memecoin token is up 29.4% in the past seven days as Musk’s US$44 billion deal to buy Twitter nears completion. Musk Tweetd on Thursday that Twitter can’t become a “free-for-all hell,” but added that he wants the platform to become more supportive of a broader set of viewpoints.

• US stocks had a mixed day on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%, the S&P 500 index lost 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.6%.

• The US Commerce Department reported on Thursday that GDP rose 2.6% in the third quarter, beating expectations of 2.4% and following a decline in the previous two quarters, which by technical definition meant the economy was in recession.

• While markets initially reacted positively to the GDP number, said Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at listed digital asset broker GlobalBlock. Discard via email that was short-lived “as it concludes that the Federal Reserve has been given the green light to continue its aggressive policy measures and continue to raise interest rates.”

• The Federal Reserve raised interest rates from near zero in March to 3.25% now to curb inflation that approached a 40-year high of 8.2% in September. The Fed has indicated that it will continue this policy until inflation reaches a target range of 2%.

See related article: Bitcoin falls 3% as US inflation rises 0.4% in September