During trading on Monday afternoon in Asia, the Bitcoin price remained below a US$19,000 limit. This was due to the fact that concerns about inflation and rising interest rates triggered selling across the majority of asset classes. XRP suffered a loss but still managed to come out on top for the week. Like the other top 10 coins by market capitalization, Ether saw a loss, with Solana seeing the most significant percentage decline.
Bitcoin’s Price Drop
According to the statistics provided by CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin’s price dropped by 0.98% over the past 24 hours to reach US$18,909 at 4 p.m. in Hong Kong, while Ether’s price dropped by 2.45% to reach US$1,297.
The morning saw a reversal of gains for XRP, which resulted in a dip of 3.28% to US$0.4731. The latest developments in the lawsuit filed against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the company that issued XRP, Ripple Labs Inc., have contributed to the token’s continued increase of 35.16% over the past week. The value of XRP increased throughout the previous week because of rumors that a summary judgment could be obtained to conclude the litigation without a trial.
Solana, the worst performer among the top ten cryptocurrencies, fell by 4.17% to US$32.48. A 3.76% drop followed this in Dogecoin.
Concerns throughout the world over rising prices, increased interest rates, and the conflict in Ukraine led to a decline in equities markets across Asia, which extended the losing streak that began on Friday. The Nikkei 225 index dropped by 2.66%, reaching a two-month low, while the Kospi index in South Korea dropped by 3.02%. The Shanghai Composite index and the Hong Kong Hang Seng index both fell 1.2% and 0.44%, respectively.
Last week, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which serves as the city’s de facto central bank, followed the lead of the Federal Reserve of the United States and increased its base rate by 75 basis points. This was done to try to keep inflation at bay. The central banks of the Philippines and Taiwan both raised interest rates in the previous week.
Featured Image: DepositPhotos © artjazz