ISLAMABAD: The cryptocurrency market extended previous session’s losses on Wednesday, with the market capitalization losing 1.9 percent to reach $1.61 trillion. The market turned to profit-taking amid uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) near-term policy outlook. Hence, the focus will remain glued to the outcome of the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting, scheduled to be announced later in the day. In the meantime, the US inflation report released on Tuesday, along with Friday’s mostly upbeat employment details, forced traders to bet that it could take the Fed until May to begin a series of interest-rate cuts next year. This, in turn, assists the US dollar to regain positive traction and acts as a headwind for the cryptocurrencies. As of 1235 hours GMT, the price of Bitcoin, the world’s oldest and most valued cryptocurrency, shed 1.6 percent in the last 24 hours to reach $41,096. TLTP
The market capitalization of the biggest crypto has reached $804.2 billion with this decrease. Bitcoin has been 6.3 percent down in the past seven days.
Bitcoin tapped new 19-month highs of $44,490 on Wednesday last. The price was fueled by optimism that the SEC will approve a spot ETF in the same year of BTC’s next quadrennial halving. However, the price has been declining since then.
Similarly, Ether (ETH), the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, shed 1.8 percent to reach $2,176. With this decrease in price, the market capitalization of ETH has reached $261.6 billion. ETH has shed 3.6 percent of its value during the last seven days.
On the other hand, Binance Coin (BNB) price inched down by 0.5 percent to reach $251. The market capitalization of BNB has reached $38.5 billion with this decrease. BNB has gained 8.7 percent of its value during the last seven days.
The price of Ripple (XRP) decreased by 2.9 percent to reach $0.603. The market capitalization of XRP stands at $32.6 billion with this decrease. XRP has shed 2.8 percent of its value during the last seven days.
Following suit, Solana (SOL) price dipped 7 percent to reach $65.82. With this decrease in price, its market capitalization has reached $27.9 billion. SOL has gained 4.2 percent of its value during the last seven days.
