Bitcoin, Ether inches up, Dogecoin leads decline

TL;DR Bitcoin and Ethereum were slightly up in Monday afternoon trading in Asia. Dogecoin led declines among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Equity markets in the U.S. and Hong Kong were closed for Christmas. The U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates this month, and Chair Jerome Powell has said there will be more rate hikes next year. Binance's BNB token dropped 0.72% over the past 24 hours, while XRP inched up 0.64%.

Bitcoin and Ethereum inched up in Monday afternoon trading in Asia. Most other non-stablecoin top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization were little changed, with Dogecoin leading declines. See related article: Bitcoin hashrate drops nearly 40% as deadly U.S. storm unplugs minersFast factsBitcoin gained 0.14% in the last 24 hours to trade at US$16,857 at 4 p.m. Hong Kong time on Monday, while Ether gained 0.15% to US$1,220, according to CoinMarketCap data. Dogecoin was the biggest loser in the top 10 cryptos, falling 1.87% to trade at US$0.07563 in the past 24 hours. Major Dogecoin advocate Elon Musk may soon step down from the top job at social media platform TwitterBinance’s BNB token traded at US$243.32, a drop of 0.72% over the past 24 hours. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has been accused of deliberately causing the collapse of Bahamas-based FTX.com that was once the second-largest exchange. Binance may also be probed by the U.S. Justice Department over money laundering violations.XRP inched up 0.64% to trade at US$0.3512, after dropping 1.64% in Monday morning trade in Asia. Equity markets in the U.S. and Hong Kong were closed on Monday for Christmas. U.S. equity markets rose on Friday after posting a loss for the week over fears of an emerging recession. On Friday, the Nasdaq composite closed 0.2% higher, the S&P 500 was up 0.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5%. The U.S. central bank raised interest rates by half a percentage point this month after the consumer price index, a key inflation indicator, rose 7.1% in November from a year earlier. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has said there will be more interest rate hikes next year even as the economy moves towards a potential recession.See related article: The last 12 months the year to forget, says India’s WazirX crypto exchange  

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