XRP Rises as US Denies SEC Motion; shares expect debt ceiling agreement
Bitcoin prices fell on Wednesday morning in Asia, but held above the $27,000 line. Ether rallied, but still posted a weekly drop. Ripple’s XRP led gainers among other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies on the back of a favorable ruling for Ripple Labs in its lawsuit with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). US stock futures gained as US President Joe Biden and Congress reportedly made progress on raising the debt ceiling.
See related article: The EU’s MiCA gets a unanimous nod from the European Council
Ripple gains after positive ruling
Bitcoin fell 0.87% to US$27,036.75 in the 24 hours to 07:35 in Hong Kong, but lost 2.05% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Ether gained 0.28% to $1,825.91, while posting a weekly loss of 1.10%.
Other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies traded mixed on Wednesday morning. Ripple’s XRP led the gains, adding 2.68% to $0.4399.
The win follows positive news for XRP issuer Ripple Labs, as Judge Analisa Torres of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected the SEC’s motion to seal the controversial Hinman Speech documents from the public.
The document refers to a speech given by former SEC officer William Hinman on June 14, 2018. In the speech, Hinman stated that the agency did not view Bitcoin or Ethereum as securities. This statement is a major focal point in the long-running legal battle between Ripple and the SEC. The regulator accuses Ripple of providing unregistered securities.
Meanwhile, Polygon’s Matic led losses among the top 10 non-stable coins. It registered a loss of 2.21% to $0.8442 with a fall of 3.56% in the last seven days.
The total crypto market cap fell 0.93% in the last 24 hours to $1.13 trillion. Total trading volume also lost 7% to $28.74 billion.
Bitcoin to Challenge Ethereum’s NFT Supremacy?
In the non-fungible token (NFT) market, the Forkast 500 NFT Index lost 0.13% to 3,378.53 points in the 24 hours to 07:30 in Hong Kong, down 2.32% in the of the week.
This, said CryptoSlam NFT analyst Yehudah Petscher, can in turn be attributed to “low volume and high transaction fees from crypto trading.”
24-hour NFT sales on Ethereum, the leading blockchain for NFTs, rose 2.16% to $18.6 million. Bitcoin blockchain sales took second place on Cryptoslam’s blockchain ranking by increasing 32.11% to $4.6 million.
“Bitcoin NFTs are just getting started, and in the long run I expect Bitcoin to compete head-to-head with Ethereum’s all-time sales. It may actually surpass them as well,” Yehudah said.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection recorded the highest sales volume in the last 24 hours. It rose 8% to $2.48 million. All 24 highest individual NFT sales in the last 24 hours were Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs according to Cryptoslam. BAYC #466 is selling for 98 ETH ($178,751).
Milady Maker was second in terms of NFT collection rankings by sales volume at Cryptoslam. It registered an increase of 207.61% in the last 24 hours to $1.3 million. The collection took the market by storm last week after Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted a photo featuring the Milady NFT.
Traders can expect a slow week ahead in the NFT market as many in the NFT community attend the VeeCon Web3 conference in Indianapolis on the 18th-20th. May.
“Those who believe that NFTs can act as access cards, art and collectibles all in one are in for a treat,” said Cryptoslam’s Yehudah. “I expect markets to be slow while many are out of network, but we also know that degenerates are going to degenerate.”
US stock futures rise after positive talks about the debt ceiling
US stock futures were trading higher as of 9:30 a.m. in Hong Kong, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.15%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.19%. Nasdaq Composite futures also rose 0.24% as investors expect a resolution to the US debt crisis.
US President Joe Biden met with congressional leaders on Tuesday to hammer out a deal that would allow an increase in the debt ceiling.
On May 1, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Congress that the country will begin failing to meet debt payment obligations as early as June 1. It will result in a debt default and wider economic consequences in the US and globally.
After an hour-long conversation at the White House on Tuesday, Biden told reporters that the discussion was productive. House Representative Kevin McCarthy seemed to agree. He said it is possible to reach an agreement to raise the debt ceiling by the end of this week.
Yellen warned again on Tuesday that a debt default would result in an income shock that could lead to a recession. This will destroy jobs and businesses in the country, she said. The Treasury chief called for faster action to raise the debt ceiling. She added that the country is already seeing a heavier debt burden as the deaths increase borrowing costs.
The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite posted losses in regular trading on Tuesday following earnings reports earlier in the day. Big retailer Home Depot’s revenue fell 4.2% year over year in the first quarter. The company’s executives warned investors that it could see its first annual sales decline since 2009.
Investors are now awaiting more earnings reports from Tencent Holdings, Cisco Inc., Siemens AG, Target Corp. and more on Wednesday.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is expected to share his views on rate hikes on Friday ahead of the Fed’s next rate decision on June 14. The interest rate of between 5 and 5.25% is the highest since 2006. The CME FedWatch Tool predicts a 77.5% chance the Fed will keep interest rates unchanged in June. However, it also predicts a 22.5% chance of another 25 basis point rate hike.
