Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $28,000 on Monday, continuing its downward trend that started on Sunday, while the US Federal regulators took over the First Republic Bank. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation was trading at around $27,800, down over 5% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data. JP Morgan took over First Republic Bank, and the swift response to its implosion showed the banking sector was ready to handle these types of crises.
First Republic is the fourth bank to fail in the past two months, following Silvergate, Silicon Valley and Signature banks. Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, dropped more than 4% to around $1,813 on Monday afternoon.
The S&P 500, Wall Street’s benchmark equity index, was down by 0.04%. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite recently slid about 0.1%. Investors are now keeping an eye on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, which begins on Tuesday to decide whether to boost interest rates and by how much.
“It is looking like the U.S. banking system has a playbook to deal with the next banking crisis when it emerges, which is somewhat dampening the case for cryptos.”
Edward Moya, Senior Market Analyst for foreign exchange Oanda said in a note.
Some analysts expected the decision may cause price fluctuations in the crypto market. After a breakout (BTC above $25,000), it’s important to pay attention to pullbacks to gauge the buy strength remaining. In this case, BTC flashed some signals where buyers quickly stepped in at the 50-day simple moving average.
Blockchain-based distributed rendering service, Render Network’s utility token RNDR was the best-performing asset in April, rising 77%. It was followed by the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Injective Protocol’s INJ token, which jumped 69%. Chain’s XCN token was among the biggest CMI laggards plunging over 33% in April.
Regulation remains a significant stumbling block. In the US, Coinbase demanded that a federal court force the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to clarify whether existing securities laws apply to digital assets.
SUMMARY
- Bitcoin has fallen below $28k, continuing its downward trend
- Ether drops more than 4%, to change hands around $1,813 on Monday afternoon
- FOMC monetary policy meeting will decide whether to boost interest rates and by how much
- Render Network’s token RNDR, best-performing asset in April, rising 77%
- Coinbase demands federal clarification on laws applying to digital assets
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The material in this article is written on the basis of another article.