Bitcoin, Ether extend losses; G20 eye global regulation
Bitcoin was trading below $26,000 in Asia on Monday afternoon, while Ether and all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies posted losses. The market is also under pressure after news that collapsed crypto exchange FTX may soon liquidate its $3.4 billion in crypto holdings.
See related article: FTX is suing LayerZero Labs to recover $21 million
All top 10 cryptos are falling
Bitcoin fell 0.15% to $25,811 in the 24 hours ending at 4 p.m. in Hong Kong, extending its weekly loss to 0.56%, according to CoinMarketCap data.
“Currently, Bitcoin price is trading without a clear direction given the cautious market sentiment. Bitcoin, which leads the entire crypto market, will be influenced by various technical factors in the absence of news and legal decisions on the cryptocurrency market in the coming week,” said Rania Gule, market analyst at multi-asset brokerage firm XS.com Forkast.
“I believe that the crucial support level at $24,995 will determine whether the price of Bitcoin rises or falls. A clear and strong break below this level would send Bitcoin towards the very important support level at $24,000, which would indicate a clear bearish trend reversal. In a worst-case scenario, the selling momentum in this case could push the price to around $21,915, which is around mid-March levels,” Gule said.
Ether, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, fell 0.78% to $1,611 in the last 24 hours and 1.63% in the last seven days.
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin’s account on X, formerly Twitter, was hacked on Sunday losses for some of Buterin’s followers, according to blockchain investigator ZachXBT. Hackers posted links to a fraudulent non-fungible token (NFT) project on Buterin’s Twitter page and advised users to connect their crypto wallets before withdrawing funds.
“Ethereum price indicators continue to show signals of a continued downtrend, supported by a break of the trendline that took the price below the critical support level of $1,687. This paves the way for a potential 27% drop in ETH price. I believe the price could reach a significant level of $1,200 with intermediate support at $1,366,” emphasized Gule of XS.com.
The crypto market is also under downward pressure from the latest FTX news. According to a, the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange is expected to receive approval to begin liquidating its crypto holdings on September 13th tweet from blockchain analyst Whale Alert. After declaring bankruptcy in November last year, the exchange still holds an estimated $3.4 billion worth of crypto assets.
John Stefanidis, managing director of blockchain infrastructure foundation Balthazar DAO, said: “The recent decline in the value of altcoins could be due to the expected approval of the liquidation of the assets held by FTX.” With a portfolio that includes billions of dollars in cryptocurrency assets, a possible liquidation could be the Significantly impact market values, particularly Solana, Aptos, Dogecoin, Matic, TON and XRP.”
Toncoin was the biggest loser, falling 3.38% to $1.70 in the last 24 hours and losing 9.96% in the last seven days.
Ripple’s XRP was the second biggest loser, falling 2.91% to $0.4857 on the day and down 3.54% for the week. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a motion last Friday to compel the Southern District of New York court to appeal its ruling on the agency’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs. The SEC asked the court to review its earlier decision by Judge Analisa Torres, which raised “difficult legal issues,” according to the filing. In July, Judge Torres ruled in a summary judgment that Ripple’s XRP sales to institutional investors violated securities laws, but sales on public exchanges to retail investors did not.
Ripple Labs also announced that it will acquire Nevada-based crypto infrastructure startup Fortress Trust, giving Ripple a regulatory license in the state of Nevada.
Elsewhere, the Group of 20 (G20) meeting under the Indian presidency said over the weekend that member countries will work together to develop a coordinated global regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, cross-border cooperation and information sharing.
“Crypto assets and how regulation can be introduced – we have worked on a roadmap for this [that] Progress can be made in this area over the next month,” said Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund said at the conclusion of the G20 summit of heads of state and government in India’s capital New Delhi on Sunday.
Congratulations to India on a successful one #G20 Presidency. The theme “One Earth, One Family, One Future” resonated with world leaders, reaching important consensus on how to address the global challenges we face. My findings from 🇮🇳 are successful @g20org Summit.
— Kristalina Georgieva (@KGeorgieva) September 10, 2023
However, one of the biggest challenges facing the cryptocurrency industry globally is the delay in implementing these recommendations nationally, according to Caroline Bowler, managing director of Australian digital asset exchange BTC Markets.
“As international organizations set the framework for a harmonized regulatory environment, it is essential that governments and regulators act promptly to translate these guidelines into actionable regulations. Delayed implementation could hinder industry growth, create uncertainty and potentially pose risks to investors and consumers,” Bowler said in an emailed statement on Monday.
Total crypto market cap fell by 0.54% to $1.03 trillion, while market volume increased by 36.82% to $20.63 billion.
Total NFT Sales Volume, Transactions Decline
The Forkast 500 NFT index fell 0.85% to 2,119 in the 24 hours to 7 p.m. in Hong Kong, down 3.53% on the week, with the Ethereum, Solana and Polygon indices also falling Forkast were declining.
According to data from CryptoSlam, total NFT sales volume fell by 4.08% to $8,757,370 in the last 24 hours. At the same time, NFT transactions fell by over 10%.
“As we approach the weakest months of the year, one has to ask how low we can really sink and whether we can fall to February 2021 levels, where we recorded sales of $35 million to $50 million,” said Yehudah Petscher, NFT strategist at Forkast Labs.
Among blockchains, Ethereum topped the rankings with a 2.67% increase in revenue to $4.7 million. The Mythos and Polygon networks took second and third place, respectively.
In terms of collections, Mythos-based DMarket led the way, although its sales volume fell 7.76% to $1,012,238 in the last 24 hours.
“Football NFTs were in high demand as the NFL season kicked off. Both DraftKings, with their fantasy football NFTs, and NFL All Day, with their pure collectibles, have seen millions in sales in the last seven days,” Petscher said.
Sales of the Polygon-based DraftKings increased 45.96% to $579,756, making it the third-largest collection by sales volume.
(Updates with NFT section)
