Daily Times

The prices of major digital currencies inched up on Wednesday, with the market cap increasing to $1.4 trillion (+0.8 percent) as of 1405 GMT.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency, increased to $32,880 after gaining 1.18 percent. With this increase in price, the market capitalisation of the BTC has reached $616.6 billion.

Likewise, ethereum (ETH) price gained 1.78 percent to reach $2,009. With this increase in price, the market capitalisation of ETH has reached $234.4 billion.

Similarly, XRP gained 0.46 percent to reach $0.621. The market capitalisation of XRP stands at $62.1 billion after this increase. On the other hand, Cardano (ADA) price reached $1.29 with a 0.54 percent increase in its price. Its market capitalisation has reached $41.4 billion after this increase. Likewise, Dogecoin (Doge) price appreciated by 1.80 percent to reach $0.201. With this increase in price, the market capitalisation of Doge reached $26.4 billion.

Bitcoin price hit a two-and-a half-week low of $31,669 early in the day. The drop to the lowest since June 26 comes a day after futures tied to the federal funds rate and eurodollars, which track short-term interest-rate expectations, raised bets on Tuesday that the Fed would increase interest rates between December 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. The repricing happened after the US Labour Department said the consumer price index increased 5.4 percent year-on-year in June, the fastest pace since 2008.

Rate hikes, or possible tapering as signalled by Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard, boost the attractiveness of holding fiat currencies, in this case the dollar, and dilute the appeal of perceived store-of-value assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and gold.

The analysts said the cryptocurrency has been looking heavy for a long time, courtesy of weak flows, and “the CPI may have helped.” That said, some analysts say concerns over tightening or gradual unwinding of stimulus may not be a threat to traditional markets, but present immediate downside risk to bitcoin.