WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Another day of massive outflows from Bitcoin Spot ETF products in the U.S. added to the bearish sentiment in crypto markets. Heavy outflows were again recorded on Thursday after a modest rebound on Wednesday. The outflows follow the Fed toning down its rate cut forecasts to just one cut in 2024 versus three anticipated earlier.
Data released by Farside Investors shows outflows from Bitcoin Spot ETF products in the U.S. at $226 million on Thursday. Inflows of $100.8 million were recorded on Wednesday as compared with net outflows of $200 million on Tuesday and $64 million on Monday.
Except for iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) that recorded inflows of $18 million, no other ETF recorded net fund inflows on Thursday. Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) recorded outflows of $106 million followed by Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) that saw outflows of $62 million and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) that recorded outflows of $53 million. VanEck Bitcoin Trust ETF (HODL) witnessed record outflows of $11.2 million.
Overall crypto market capitalization dropped to $2.44 trillion from $2.46 trillion a day earlier even as markets feared the interest rates remining at the current high level for more than expected.
Meanwhile the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday announced that Terraform Labs PTE, Ltd. and Do Kwon have agreed to pay more than $4.5 billion following a unanimous jury verdict that held them liable for orchestrating a years-long fraud involving crypto asset securities that led to massive investor losses. The SEC had charged Terraform and Kwon with securities fraud and for offering and selling securities in unregistered transactions.
Do Kwon has agreed to pay $110 million in disgorgement, $14 million in prejudgment interest on a joint and several basis with Terraform, as well as $80 million in civil penalty. Terraform would wind down and assets distributed to investor victims and creditors in bankruptcy.
According to the SEC, Do Kwon and Terra orchestrated one of the largest securities frauds in U.S. history by, among other things, falsely claiming that they had achieved the Holy Grail of crypto: a non-illicit use case. The Terra implosion in May 2022 had wiped off $40 billion in market value nearly overnight as UST de-pegged from the U.S. dollar and the price of UST and Terraform's other tokens plummeted to close to zero, causing devastating investor losses.
Bitcoin (BTC) shed 1.1 percent overnight and 6 percent in the past week to trade at $66,920.39. The leading cryptocurrency is however holding on to year-to-date gains in excess of 58 percent.
BTC traded between $68,337.23 and $66,304.57 in the past 24 hours. Bitcoin's crypto market dominance has edged down to 54.2 percent from 54.3 percent a day earlier.
Ethereum edged up 0.30 percent in the past 24 hours, rising to a price of $3,515.08. The leading alternate coin which traded between $3,528.72 and $3,431.33 in the past 24 hours, commands 17.3 percent of the overall crypto market, versus 17 percent a day earlier.
4th ranked BNB (BNB) slipped half a percent in the past 24 hours to trade at $604.01. The native token of the Binance.com cryptocurrency exchange is trading with weekly losses of 14.3 percent and year-to-date gains of 93 percent.
5th ranked Solana (SOL) slipped 2.9 percent in the past 24 hours and 14.3 percent in the past week to trade at $147.57.
7th ranked XRP (XRP) lost 1.6 percent overnight, lifting the losses to 8.6 percent on a weekly basis and to 22.4 percent in 2024.
The price movement of XRP comes amidst Ripple Labs filing an application with the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York seeking to limit the civil penalty in its dispute with the SEC at not more than $10 million. The filing comes close on the heels of the settlement between the SEC and Terraform Labs whereby Terraform has been required to pay $420 million in civil penalty. Ripple Labs has argued that the civil penalty in the Terraform case represents approximately 1.27 percent of the gross sales of $33 billion whereas in its case the SEC had sought a civil penalty far exceeding that range. The SEC had proposed a fine of $2 billion on Ripple Labs for selling XRP to institutional investors.
Dogecoin (DOGE), ranked 8th overall has shed 0.8 percent in the past 24 hours to trade at $0.1425.
9th ranked Toncoin (TON) surged 3 percent overnight to trade at $7.81.
10th ranked Cardano (ADA) declined 2 percent overnight and 8.7 percent over the past week.
For More Cryptocurrency News, visit rttnews.com
Copyright(c) 2024 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2024 AFX News
