U.S. rate jitters sparked strong overnight gains in the dollar, which pressured crypto prices across the board.
Bitcoin fell 0.3% in the past 24 hours to $69,418.9 by 01:21 ET (05:21 GMT). The world’s biggest cryptocurrency settled back into a trading range seen for most of the past two months, after a brief breakout earlier this week.
World no.2 token Ether hovered around two-month highs hit earlier this week, retaining a bulk of gains made on hype over the potential approval of a spot Ether ETF for U.S. markets. The Securities and Exchange Commission is set to make a decision on the matter by as soon as Thursday or Friday.
Ether rose slightly over the past 24 hours to $3,776.69. The token marked a strong rally this week after reports on Monday said the SEC had asked certain exchanges to fine-tune their filings for spot Ether ETFs.
While the move did mark some progress towards a spot ETF approval, it did not guarantee their approval.
The SEC is now set to decide on applications for a spot Ether ETF from VanEck, ARK Investment Management and seven other issuers later on Thursday or Friday.
The approval of a spot Ether ETF could invite more capital flows into crypto markets, akin to those seen with the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF earlier this year. But those
Broader cryptocurrency markets unwound a bulk of gains made earlier this week, as fears of high for longer U.S. interest rates ramped up following some hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve.
The minutes of the Fed’s late-April meeting showed increasing concerns among policymakers over sticky inflation, with some members even signaling they were prepared to hike rates to quell inflation.
A slew of Fed officials also warned this week that the bank had little confidence that inflation was easing steadily towards its 2% annual target.
While the chances of another rate hike are dim, any stickiness in inflation is likely to delay the Fed’s plans to begin trimming rates. High for long rates bode poorly for crypto markets, given that the sector usually thrives in low-rate, high-liquidity markets.
Altcoin prices mostly fell on Thursday. SOL shed 2.2, while XRP lost 1.2%. Among meme tokens, SHIB fell 0.7%, while DOGE lost 0.8%.
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