Cryptocurrency markets have taken a hit, with Bitcoin’s price falling to below US$23,000 and Ether dropping in value across the board. These falls come on the back of reports that U.S.-based crypto bank Silvergate Capital Corp. could become the latest corporate casualty of the FTX crashes. The losses have dragged down all the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, with Polkadot taking the biggest hit.
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Some quick facts:
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At 09:30 AM in the morning, Bitcoin had dropped 3.22% over the last 24 hours, and 4.78% over the past seven days. Ether decreased 3.19% to US$1,602, representing a 3.33% decline in the last week.
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At the time of writing, both tokens were down as much as 5 percent this morning. However, they remain up by 40% for the year.
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Polkadot was the worst affected, dropping to US$6.08 and losing 14.63% during the last seven days. The token was in a downtrend two weeks ago. Nevertheless, the Polkadot community continues to be active, with daily development activity tracked by Github according to the ProofofGithub.
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Silvergate Capital Corp. disclosed in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it is currently assessing “its ability to continue as a going concern”, causing its stock price to plunge by more than 50%. A number of crypto platforms and exchanges are now severing ties with the bank.
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Silvergate made a name for itself as a bridge between traditional finance and the crypto and fintech industry, as a Federal Reserve Bank member. Nevertheless, the FTX crash has caused significant financial woes for the bank, with it expecting “substantial losses” from the incident.
Crypto markets have taken a hit, with Bitcoin falling below US$23,000 and Ether tumbling in the last 24 hours. The total market capitalization fell by 1.02% to US$1.07 trillion. Trading volume also decreased 12.30%, to US$42.65 Billion.
Stocks in the US ended the day on a high note, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 1.05%, the S&P 500 moving up 0.76% and the Nasdaq Composite Index increasing by 0.73%.
Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic indicated on Thursday that he supports an increase in the interest rate of 25 basis points in March, a sentiment echoed by Fed Governor Christopher Waller who stated that recent data suggested the battle against inflation was far from over.
Data from the US Department of Labor showed that initial jobless claims had decreased in the week ending February 25th, while labour costs had increased, suggesting that the Fed’s interest rate hikes had not yet tamed inflation.
The US Fed had increased interest rates between 4.5% and 4.75% in February, the highest rate since October 2007. According to analysts at the CME Group, there is a 72.3% chance of the Fed increasing the rate by 25 basis points each month, with a 27.7% chance of a 50 basis point increase, down from 29.9% on Thursday.
Friday will see the release of data from the US services sector, with many other Fed officials speaking the same day. Separately, China is set to announce its ‘Two Sessions’, the most important political meetings of the year for economic policy in the world’s second-largest economy.
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