Bitcoin edges above US$28,000, XRP leads weekly gains, equities up

Bitcoin climbed back above US$28,000 in Thursday morning trading in Asia in a broad based rally that lifted most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies and seemingly shrugged off concerns about regulators in the U.S. filing warnings and lawsuits against crypto exchanges. Bitcoin led the day’s gains while XRP led the winners for the week. U.S. equities rose on Wednesday as investors seemed to be moving on from concerns about the state of the banking system after a series of lender failures earlier this month.

See related article: SEC charges Beaxy cryptocurrency platform for violating securities laws

Fast facts

• Bitcoin led the gainers among the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, jumping 3.87% to US$28,345 in the 24 hours to 9:00 a.m. in Hong Kong, to post a weekly gain of 3.61%, according to CoinMarketCap data.
• The leading cryptocurrency has bounced back from a low of US$26,677 on Tuesday this week after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Binance for alleged violation of trading rules.
• Ethereum rose 0.65% to US$1,788, holding a weekly gain of 2.78%. The token briefly traded above the US$1,800 resistance level on Wednesday.
• The rally in cryptocurrencies comes amid rising tension between cryptocurrency platforms and U.S. regulators. Crypto asset trading platform Beaxy.com closed on Wednesday after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged it for violating securities laws, making it at least the fourth crypto exchange to be targeted by a U.S. federal agency so far this year. The SEC has fined Kraken, issued a warning to Coinbase, while the CFTC filed a lawsuit against Binance. SEC Chair Gary Gensler is also requesting more resources to regulate the crypto market.
• However, the lawsuit issued by the CFTC against Binance indicates conflicts between the regulators themselves. The CFTC filing lists Bitcoin, Ether and Litecoin as commodities, contradicting the SEC’s previous stated view.
• XRP rose 3.42% to US$0.5387 for a gain of 27.64% over the past seven days, the biggest weekly gain among the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptos. The CFTC’s lawsuit against Binance might provide support for Ripple Labs in its court battle with the SEC, which has charged the company with selling an unregistered security in the form of XRP, according to CNBC on Thursday.
• In the non-fungible token (NFT) market, the Forkast 500 NFT index traded flat at 4,005.60 as of 09:30 a.m. in Hong Kong, edging up 0.01% in the past 24 hours, nearly 20% of sales were in newer collections from Yuga Labs’ HV-MTL and Nakamigos from HiFO Labs., according to Forkast Labs data.
• The Forkast 500 index is down 2.78% for the week, after briefly falling below the 4,000 mark earlier on Thursday. The Forkast Labs index is a proxy measure of the performance of the global NFT market and includes 500 eligible smart contracts on any given day. It is managed by Forkast sister company, CryptoSlam. 
• U.S. equities closed higher on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.00%, the S&P 500 gained 1.42%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index moved up 1.79%. Equities rebounded as concern about weakness in the banking industry receded amid U.S. hearings on recent bank failures.
• Investors are waiting for more economic data this week, with Friday’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index offering signals into the possible next interest rate moves by the Federal Reserve to curb inflation.
• U.S. stock futures edged down as of 9:00 a.m. in Hong Kong. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures moved 0.09% lower, S&P 500 futures dipped 0.07% and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.14%.

See related article: Binance concealed ‘extensive’ ties to China: Financial Times