On Monday, cryptocurrency prices fell further, pressured by a further dip in the second-largest token Ether as well as the threat of a global wave of monetary tightening this week covering the United States and Europe.
As of 10.35am, Ether had dropped as much as 5.6 percent to a two-month low and was trading around $1,302, while Bitcoin had dropped nearly 5% to below $19,000. Tokens such as XRP, Avalanche, and Polkadot suffered the most losses.
Since mid-June, an Ether surge fueled by anticipation over an upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain has been gradually unwinding. Meanwhile, investors are braced for turbulence as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to combat pricing pressures this week.
Ethereum downtrend at the moment
The Ethereum Merge update to reduce energy usage is a “ginormous move,” but “in current inflationary atmosphere, macro outweighs everything,” noted Antoni Trenchev, managing partner at crypto lender Nexo, in a note.
This is reflected in the pressure on a variety of assets: global equities are on the verge of erasing a rise since mid-June that many saw as a bear-market rebound. US market futures were lower on Monday, while the dollar index rose.
In other news, allegations that Ripple Labs and the US Securities and Exchange Commission are seeking an expedient decision in a court lawsuit involving Ripple's connected cryptocurrency XRP caused the latter to drop as much as 12%. The SEC alleges Ripple's representations that XRP is not a regulated security were “reckless.”