Bitcoin fell in Tuesday morning trading in Asia along with most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies after U.S. regulators filed a lawsuit against Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, alleging violations of trading rules. XRP was the only token to gain. U.S. equities edged higher on Monday as authorities expanded support for troubled banks and First Citizens Bank said it would acquire the failed Silicon Valley Bank.
Bitcoin fell 3.84% to US$26,935 in the 24 hours to 09:00 a.m. in Hong Kong as details of the lawsuit against Binance surfaced. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency is down 3.53% for the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data. Despite the drop, the token is up 62.7% year to date.
Ethereum fell 4.09% to US$1,707, posting a weekly loss of 2.67%.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a lawsuit against Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, for allegedly violating derivative rules, adding to the mounting tension between U.S. regulators and crypto exchanges.
The suit alleges Binance’s senior management actively facilitated violations of U.S. law, including assisting and instructing customers located in the U.S. to evade compliance controls.
In response to the suit, Zhao tweeted the number “4,” a reference to his Jan. 2 tweet, in which he said “4” means “ignore FUD, fake news, attacks, etc.”
BNB, the native token of Biance’s ecosystem, dropped 5.74% to US$309.96, losing 7.27% in the past seven days.
XRP was the only top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrency that gained in the past 24 hours, jumping 5.49% to US$0.4735 for a gain of 24.95% on the week. The token has risen on expectations that Ripple Labs, whose crypto payment network is powered by XRP, may win out in a lawsuit filed against the company by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The case – the SEC accuses Ripple of selling an unregistered security in the form of XRP – has been running for more than two years and is expected to conclude in the middle of this year. Ripple Labs President Monica Long told CNBC last week she was optimistic that the court will rule in the company’s favor.
Crypto firms are seeking to build new bank relationships after the recent collapse of U.S. crypto-friendly banks, and have been welcomed by some regional banks including Customers Bancorp based in Pennsylvania, and Fifth Third Bancorp based in Ohio, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Monday.
In a similar move, China banks with branches in Hong Kong are reported to be offering financial services to crypto firms as the city seeks to become a hub for the digital asset industry in Asia.
The total crypto market capitalization dropped 3.35% in the past 24 hours to US$1.13 trillion. Total trading volume over the last 24 hours rose 35.24% to US$42.55 billion.
In the non-fungible token (NFT) market, the Forkast 500 NFT index dropped 0.60% in the past 24 hours to 4,009.66 as of 09:00 a.m. in Hong Kong, moving down 3.15% for the week. The index is a proxy measure of the performance of the global NFT market and includes 500 eligible smart contracts on any given day. It is managed by Forkast sister company, CryptoSlam.
U.S. equities closed mixed to higher on Monday as authorities sought to stabilize the banking system and expand an emergency lending facility, according to a Bloomberg report on Sunday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.60%, the S&P 500 edged up 0.16%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.47%.
The share price of beleaguered First Republic Bank rose 11.81% on Monday, but was still down almost 90% from the start of the month, according to data from Yahoo Finance.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Monday said it had agreed with First Citizens Bancshares that the latter would acquire the failed Silicon Valley Bank.
U.S. stocks could be heading for another up arrow day on Tuesday as equity futures gained as of 9:00 a.m. in Hong Kong. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures edged 0.10% higher, S&P 500 futures gained 0.12% and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.18%.
On the inflation front, the Federal Reserve will meet on May 3 to make its next move on interest rates. Analysts at the CME Group expect a 58.3% chance the Fed will keep rates at 4.75% to 5%. The chance of another 25 basis-point hike is at 41.7%, up from 16.8% on Monday.
The Fed reaffirmed last week its long-term goal to keep the annual inflation rate below 2%. The U.S. consumer price index (CPI) rose 6% on year in February, a deceleration from 6.4% in January, but still well above the target.
