Bitcoin prices rose on Tuesday morning in Asia along with Ether, which remained above the US$1,800 support level. Litecoin continues to lead gainers among other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, with additional gains elsewhere. U.S. equity futures edged down following gains during Monday’s regular market session. As President Joe Biden and congressional leaders prepare to discuss a raise of the debt ceiling on Tuesday, investors appear optimistic a potential debt default can be avoided.
See related article: Head of U.S. DOJ crypto enforcement eyes crackdown on non-compliant crypto exchanges: FT
Bitcoin, Ether show recovery
Bitcoin gained 1.42% to US$27,291 in the 24 hours to 7:30 a.m. in Hong Kong, but lost 1.44% over the last seven days according to CoinMarketCap data.
Bitcoin is showing signs of recovery from a dip over the weekend. The world’s most dominant cryptocurrency recorded US$25,964 on Saturday, a 2-month low. The token has experienced network congestion, upward pressure on transaction costs due to the popularity of Bitcoin Ordinals and new BRC-20 memecoins Pepe and Floki.
Ether gained 1.29% to US$1,822, maintaining its position above the key US$1,800 support level. However, it still posted a 1.38% weekly loss.
Most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies traded higher on Monday morning. Litecoin led the gains, adding 5.21% to US$87.65. The Bitcoin-like cryptocurrency faced a surge in interest due to the higher transaction fees affecting Bitcoin.
Litecoin, like Bitcoin, has a finite supply and works on a proof-of-work model. The cryptocurrency is having its quadrennial block halving event on Aug. 3. Halving refers to a pre-programmed reduction of the rate at which new tokens are created, which reduces supply and can drive prices higher.
The total crypto market capitalization rose 1.12% in the past 24 hours to US$1.14 trillion. The total trading volume also increased 39.95% to US$30.94 billion.
NFT index rises; Bored Ape, Milady sales soar
In the non-fungible token (NFT) market, the Forkast 500 NFT index increased 0.92% to 3,369.39 points in the 24 hours to 7:30 a.m. in Hong Kong, but down 3.18% during the week.
24-hour NFT sales on Ethereum, the leading blockchain for NFTs, rose 21.94% to US$17.6 million.
Bored Ape Yacht Club recorded the highest NFT sales in the last 24 hours, rising 447.2% to US$2.71 million. At roughly 2:00 a.m. (HKT), Bored Ape Yacht Club #4980 was sold, fetching a price of 530ETH (US$969,903).
The NFT is one of only 46 apes with a “solid gold fur” trait in the Board Ape Yacht Club collection. Purchase of the rare NFT by buyer PimpCapital realized a profit of 524 ETH (US$950,153) for the seller.
Ethereum-based NFT collection Milady Maker surged 306.82% in sales volume over the past 24 hours to US$553,583. The collection topped sales last week after Twitter and Tesla chief Elon Musk tweeted an image containing the Milady NFT.
“The weather in NFTs has been perfect, with good news from established projects, hot tech, a bit of money in traders’ pockets from trading meme coins, and a well-timed tweet from none other than the current (and soon-to-be former) chief executive officer of Twitter, Elon Musk,” according to Yehudah Petscher, an NFT strategist at Forkast Labs.
