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Bitcoin dropped in Thursday morning trading in Asia to below US$30,500, as the US government’s potential sale of Bitcoin seized from a Silk Road theft exerted pressure on the token. Along with Bitcoin, Ether and most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies also logged losses, with Polygon’s Matic leading the losers. US equity futures rose after data showed that US inflation slowed in June. Nevertheless, analysts ramped up their expectations for another interest rate hike in July. <\/p>\n
Bitcoin dropped 0.81% over the last 24 hours to US$30,375 as of 07:20 am in Hong Kong for a weekly loss of 0.35%. Following the release of the US consumer price index (CPI), the world’s biggest cryptocurrency reached a high of US$30,959 on Wednesday night in Asia. However, it soon retreated below US$30,500, according to date<\/a> from CoinMarketCap.<\/p>\n Bitcoin wallets linked to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) moved over 9,800 Bitcoin worth around $300 million to unused addresses in a flurry of transactions on July 12, according to data from blockchain.com<\/a>, The move likely exerted further pressure on the token \u2014 as has been the case with other large transfers in the past<\/a>, <\/p>\n In 2021, the DOJ seized<\/a> around 50,000 Bitcoins stolen from the Silk Road darknet marketplace. It is unclear if Wednesday’s transfer between wallets will lead to the US government selling the seized bitcoin. <\/p>\n Ether dipped 0.43% to US$1,870, losing 2.15% for the week. Like Bitcoin, the coin rose Wednesday night, briefly breaching the US$1,900 resistance level. However, it soon retreated back.<\/p>\n Most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies logged losses in the past 24 hours. The exception was Tron’s TRX token, which gained 0.51% to US$0.0777 and moved up 1.05% for the week. <\/p>\n Although the CPI data on Wednesday pointed to a slow down in the rate of US inflation, it still may not change the course of the Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening policies. <\/p>\n According to Justin d’Anethan, head of APAC business development at Belgium-based crypto market maker keyrock<\/a>, the new data conforms to expectations and is still far from the Fed’s target to bring the inflation rate to within 2%. It is therefore not enough to boost sentiment in the crypto market.<\/p>\n “Core inflation data came through in the US, a piece of news that most traders were eagerly waiting for but, somehow, which didn’t generate any strong reaction,” d’Anethan said.<\/p>\n On the crypto side, “investors just aren’t confident enough about prices to gear things down or up and would rather wait for a change of pace in macro markets and the Fed’s rate decision or some powerful crypto-focused catalysis \u2014 which just hasn’t.” t come yet,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Polygon’s Matic led the losers, falling 2.24% to US$0.7248, although it still registered a weekly gain of 8.25%. <\/p>\n