Bitcoin Moves Above USD 28,000, Ether Gains, XRP Rises, US Stocks Rally

Bitcoin traded above the USD 28,000 mark on Wednesday morning in Asia amid a rally in most of the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies. XRP led the gainers with a rise of over 20% on expectations that it may win a favorable ruling in an SEC lawsuit. US stocks rose on Tuesday as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen doubled down on commitments to stop troubled banks. The Federal Reserve announces its interest rate decision on Wednesday, and most analysts expect an increase of 25 basis points.

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Fast facts

• Bitcoin gained 0.52% in the last 24 hours to $28,065 at 09:00 a.m. in Hong Kong, rising 13.22% for the week, according to CoinMarketCap data. The world’s largest cryptocurrency is up around 70% so far this year after falling through most of last year.

• Cathie Wood, founder and CEO of investment management fund Ark Invest, said in a Bloomberg interview that Bitcoin’s price surge amid the bank failures in the United States this month points to more institutional acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a store of value.

• The Bitcoin Fear & Greed index, a measure of sentiment in the crypto market, rose to a 16-month high of 68 points on Tuesday, signaling that investors are becoming more optimistic than fearful.

• Ether rose 2.10% to $1,790, adding 4.99% in the past seven days. The token breached the $1,800 mark last Saturday for the first time since August 2022, and has been hovering around the resistance ceiling.

• XRP rose 21.87% to $0.4618, for a weekly gain of 23.67%. The rally came as the legal team of Ripple Labs made a new submission to Judge Analisa Torres on Tuesday to support its defense in a lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Ripple Labs payment network is powered by XRP.

• The total crypto market capitalization rose by 1.05% in the last 24 hours to $1.18 trillion. Total trading volume in the last 24 hours fell 11.79% to USD 67.74 billion.

• U.S. stocks continued their rally on Tuesday when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Treasury Department would intervene if smaller lenders suffer bank runs, convincing some investors that the banking system was stabilizing after a series of failures. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.98%, the S&P 500 rose 1.30%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.58%.

• All eyes are now on the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates on Wednesday, as the US central bank weighs inflation concerns against financial stability. The consensus is for a 25 basis point increase, although some analysts predict the Fed will leave rates unchanged in the face of the bank failures and bailouts of the past two weeks.

• US interest rates are between 4.5% to 4.75%, the highest since October 2007. Analysts at CME Group expect an 89.3% chance the Fed will raise rates by another 25 basis points on Wednesday, with a 10.3% chance for no change, down from 26.2% on Tuesday.

• U.S. stock futures were mostly flat at 9 a.m. in Hong Kong as investors awaited the Fed’s decision. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.04 percent. S&P 500 futures rose 0.01 percent. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.02 percent.

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