At the beginning of the U.S. trading week, Bitcoin (BTC) was worth less than $28,000, continuing its downward movement that began on Sunday as federal regulators prepared to take charge of First Republic Bank. First Republic, a San Francisco-based bank, is the fourth bank to fail in the past two months. The other three banks are Silvergate, Silicon Valley, and Signature Banks. First Republic is the fourth largest bank in the United States.
Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has been trading at around $28,500 for the past few days. Yesterday JPMorgan Chase announced that it had won the auction to purchase First Republic assets with a bid of over $900 million. The resultant drop in price sent a shock through crypto markets which dropped over 5% in the last 24 hours — even though oinbase">Coinbase plans to list five new coins this week.
On the other hand, Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, saw a drop of more than 4%, trading at roughly $1,813. This was accompanied by a dip in the S&P 500 and other major equities indices, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite both declining by 0.1%. The Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) monetary policy meeting, which starts on Tuesday, will be closely watched by investors for a decision on whether and how to raise interest rates. The chance of a 25 basis point (bps) rise is presently placed at more than 94% by the CME’s FedWatch tool, bringing the target range up to between 5% and 5.25%.
Experts at Blockware Solutions predicted that the Federal Open Market Committee’s policy decision could cause a significant shift in the cryptocurrency market’s price. They noted that Bitcoin is currently facing resistance between $30,000 and $31,000, but added that it is possible for the decision to either strengthen or weaken the currency
