Red Ink Across Crypto Market as Bitcoin Dips Below $26,000

Latest FTX News Depresses Crypto Market

There was red ink across the crypto market Monday morning in Asia as Bitcoin dipped below the resistance level of US$26,000. Ether also fell to near the US$16,000 mark after a hack on the X account of Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin. Other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies logged losses. Solana’s SOL led the losers with a 24-hour slide of over 6%. Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX could soon get the greenlight to liquidate its US$3.4 billion in crypto holdings, adding to selling pressure in the market. U.S. stock futures traded higher after Wall Street logged weekly losses Friday. Investors now look ahead to the release of more U.S. inflation data later in the week for clues on upcoming interest rate policy.

Bitcoin Dips Below $26,000

• Bitcoin dipped 0.25% in the last 24 hours to US$25,831.97 as of 07:50 a.m. in Hong Kong.
• It lost 0.53% for the week, according to CoinMarketCap data.
• The world’s leading cryptocurrency briefly traded above US$26,000 last Friday. But it soon lost that support level and remained range bound over the weekend at around US$25,900.

Ether Falls After Vitalik Buterin’s Account Hack

• Ether, the Ethereum blockchain’s native token, fell 1.12% to US$1,616.79, and dropped 1.18% over the past seven days.
• Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin’s account on X, formerly Twitter, was hacked Sunday, leading to losses totaling around US$691,000 for some of Buterin’s followers, according to blockchain investigator ZachXBT.
• Hackers posted links to a scam non-fungible token (NFT) project on Buterin’s Twitter page, advising users to connect their crypto wallets before withdrawing the funds.

FTX News and Market Impact

• All other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies posted losses in the past 24 hours. Solana led the losers, falling 6.17% to US$18.25 for a weekly loss of 6.80%.
• A Wall Street Journal report predicted a September pause in the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate hiking cycle, which may have caused investors to re-think their valuations for risk assets, including crypto.
• FTX, a bankrupt crypto exchange, is likely to receive approval on Sept. 13 to start liquidating its crypto holdings, according to a tweet from blockchain analysts Whale Alert.

Potential Impact on Altcoins and Bitcoin

• FTX’s liquidation could cause altcoins to underperform Bitcoin for the rest of the year, according to crypto analysts.
• The potential selling of FTX’s crypto holdings could hit Solana particularly hard, as it forms a substantial portion of these assets.
• Bitcoin is on the verge of a “death cross” where the token’s short-term moving average moves below its long-term moving average, which could signal a coming slide in Bitcoin prices.

Market Uncertainty and Technical Indicators

• The release of U.S. inflation figures and technical indicators currently signal the potential for further downside in the crypto market.
• The total crypto market capitalization dropped 0.74% in the past 24 hours to US$1.04 trillion, while trading volume rose 50.61% to US$20.25 billion.