Bitcoin (BTC) traded lower for the third time in a row this morning, bringing the BTC/USDT pair to a flat US$28,000 by the close of the Asia trading window.
At the time of writing, BTC/USDT had rebounded back above US$28,100.
It follows a bearish Thursday in which the benchmark cryptoasset was sent 2% lower amid a melange of regulatory uncertainty in the US, inflationary pressures in the UK and profit taking in the market.
Coinbase’s decision to open shop in the offshore jurisdiction of Bermuda is a sign of increasing frustration at US authorities among the fiat-to-crypto on-ramps, sparking worries of an exodus of Web3 talent to other countries.
On the bright side, the European Parliament’s approval of the landmark Markets in Crypto-Assets bill sets the stage for heightened institutional uptake in the 27-member bloc, but that has yet to offer any short-term sentiment uplift for the crypto markets.
Bitcoin (BTC) sent lower – Source: currency.com
Long-BTC liquidations have racked up US$11.5mln in losses, with around US$45mln getting flushed out yesterday.
Market sentiment has taken a bit of a hit, with the Fear & Greed Index, which tracks volatility, market momentum and bitcoin dominance, falling back to neutral for the first time in over a month.
Tom Westbrook, chief correspondent reckons the recent risk-on rally that proved a boon to bitcoin “seems to be running out of steam as economic data offers few excuses for confidence”.
Ethereum (ETH) performed better than bitcoin on Thursday, having closed around half a percent higher before dipping 1% lower in this morning’s Asia trading window.
The ETH/USDT pair is currently changing hands at US$1,920, sandwiched between buying support at US$1,880 and selling pressure at 2k, per Binance’s order book.
Week-on-week losses have mounted for the two largest cryptocurrencies, with bitcoin and ether dipping around 9% each.
Though short-term losses have stacked up, the macro perspective remains positive, with bitcoin and Ethereum 69% and 57% higher year to date, respectively.
In the altcoin space
The week has also been a broadly red one for the blue-chip altcoins, with Ripple (XRP), Polygon (MATIC), Solana (SOL) racking up double-digital losses to their respective market capitalisations.
Despite the persistent regulatory pressures facing Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange’s BNB token has performed relatively well, having only dipped around 1%.
The strongest mover among the entire top-100 altcoin set was OKB, the native cryptocurrency of Maltese crypto exchange OKEx.
OKB added 14% in the past seven days, bringing its market capitalisation close to US$3.2bn, encouraged by the fact that OKEx was chosen as the launching pad for the SUI token launch.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalisation fell around 7% this week, standing at US$1.19tn at the time of writing.
Total value locked in the decentralised finance (DeFi) space also dipped around 7% to a flat US$50bn.
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