Markets: Bitcoin, Ether inch up; XRP rebounds following positive lawsuit ruling

Bitcoin inched up today to remain above the US$19,000 support line amid mixed results among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins, led in gains by Tron. XRP rebounded from losses yesterday.

See related articles:  Binance to hard fork BNB Smart Chain amid heated debate around decentralization 

Fast facts

• Bitcoin gained 0.17% in the past 24 hours to trade at US$19,112 at 4 p.m. in Hong Kong after it slipped below the US$19,000 support line on Tuesday, and Ether rose 0.91% to US$1,295, according to data from CoinMarketCap.  

• XRP increased 0.18% to US$0.49, rebounding from yesterday’s losses following news today of a judge ruling in favor of Ripple Labs Inc., the firm whose payment network is powered by XRP, in its case against the Securities and Exchange Commission by granting the submission of amicus briefs from two firms hoping to support Ripple in the lawsuit. 

• Tron led gains among the top 10 cryptos, rising 3.5% to US$0.064. Dogecoin gained 1.8% to change hands at US$0.06 and Solana fell 0.95% to US$31.27. Polygon led losses, dropping 1.17% to US$0.7963. 

• Asia equity markets were mixed following similar Wall Street results overnight. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index dropped 0.78%, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.53% and the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.02%. 
• Forecasts for the global financial system remained weak, with the IMF warning of a “sudden, disorderly tightening in financial conditions’” that “may interact with preexisting vulnerabilities.” The IMF also raised its inflation forecast in advanced economies, predicting a 7.2% inflation rate at the end of 2022 and 4.4% in 2023, each 1 percentage point higher than its April forecast for those periods.

See related articles: Judge grants amicus requests to support Ripple in lawsuit with SEC