Cryptos show resilience; BNB gains on Binance Japan launch

Bitcoin, Ether and most other top ten non-stablecoin tokens gained in Wednesday morning trading in Asia, with Bitcoin recovering above the US$29,000 support line. BNB led the winners after its issuer, Binance, relaunched in Japan on Tuesday. Litecoin also posted notable gains ahead of Wednesday’s halving event, its first since August 2019, while the Forkast 500 NFT index was down. U.S. equity futures declined as corporate results came in mixed and the U.S. lost its triple A credit rating.

Crypto in green

Bitcoin rose 0.78% in the last 24 hours to US$29,440.29 as of 7:40 a.m. in Hong Kong, according to data from CoinMarketCap. The world’s largest cryptocurrency recovered after falling below the US$29,000 support line to a low of US$28,657.02 overnight.

Despite that movement, average 30-day Bitcoin price volatility sits at 0.74%, the lowest level since Oct. 2016, according to Buy Bitcoin Worldwide’s index.

Even with the recent Curve Labs hack causing disruption in the world of decentralized finance, Bitcoin’s relative price stability can be put down to a “lack of earth shattering news” in the mold of the FTX or Terra Luna collapses, said Wade Guenther, partner at U.S.-based asset management firm Wilshire Phoenix.

Bitcoin’s price has also resisted major turbulence caused by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision at its last meeting on July 26 to raise interest rates to between 5.25% to 5.50% — the highest level since January 2001.

“Bitcoin has been resilient to the U.S. Fed interest rate hikes, likely because bitcoin is controlled by the rules built in the blockchain protocol, not by any country’s central bank policy,” Wade said. 

Ether gained 0.63% to US$1,867.92, adding 0.57% in the last seven days, while most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies were also up. Binance’s BNB token led the winners, rising 2.36% to US$247.07 for a weekly gain of 3.90%. 

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, launched its Japan subsidiary, Binance Japan K.K., on Tuesday. With the launch, the Japan exchange debuted BNB for the first time in the country, where it joins 33 other tokens available to users of the platform.

“If you want access to the most coins, now you need to go to Binance,” said Norbert Gehrke, author of the Japan Fintech Observer newsletter, in a note. 

Gehrke said that the depth of coins offered on the Binance platform might spell bad news for Japan’s smaller exchanges. 

“If you want a cynical view, then the [Financial Services Agency] allowing Binance to operate is just another step towards consolidation in the market and the weeding out of smaller, unprofitable players,” Gehrke added.

Elsewhere, Litecoin rose 1.61% to US$93.65, adding to its weekly growth of 4.59%. 

The Litecoin halving event will take place later on Wednesday. The halving is expected to cut mining rewards to increase its scarcity and, potentially, trigger a boost in its price.

The total crypto market capitalization rose 0.06% in the past 24 hours to US$1.18 trillion, while trading volume rose 30.09% to US$37.11 billion.