Bitcoin, Ether, all other top 10 cryptocurrencies fall

Bitcoin, Ether and all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies fell on Thursday morning in Asia as the U.S. public holiday this week slowed trading and some investors seemed to be taking profits off recent gains. Bitcoin is still up 1% for the week, with BlackRock’s head Larry Fink backing the world’s biggest cryptocurrency as having the potential to revolutionize finance. Litecoin and Cardano led the losers.

Bitcoin driver

Bitcoin fell 1.06% over the last 24 hours to US$30,465 at 06:35 a.m. in Hong Kong, while its weekly gain stood at 1.02%, according to data from CoinMarketCap. The token, which had a market cap of US$591 billion as of Thursday, has risen 83% so far this year in a rebound from the bear market slump in 2022.

“Bitcoin is still the main driver of trading volume albeit that is also soft – no doubt linked to the July 4th U.S. public holiday washing through,” said Caroline Bowler, the chief executive officer of Australia-based crypto exchange BTC Markets, in a text message to Forkast.

“We may be seeing the effects of this reduced liquidity and greater asset concentration playing out, with some greater price sensitivities in trading,” Bowler added. “The industry is coming out of the prolonged bear market so this is to be expected.”

The price dip came after a run up in many tokens sparked by growing optimism around the possible approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S., which will open the cryptocurrency to a wider pool of investors.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager that oversees about US$10 trillion, filed applications to launch the first publicly traded spot Bitcoin ETFs on June 15. It refiled the application on Monday after the regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, reportedly said it was lacking in detail.

Larry Fink, chief executive officer of BlackRock Inc., said Wednesday that he wanted to “democratize” cryptocurrencies with the ETF filings, in an interview with Fox Business. Fink also said Bitcoin is an international asset that could revolutionize finance.

Ether lost 1.55% to US$1,911, though it was holding onto a gain of 4.40% for the past seven days.

All other top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization lost ground, with Litecoin and Cardano leading the losing pack.

Litecoin slipped 3.84% to US$102.19 in what appeared to be profit taking after the token gained ahead of its halving on Aug. 2 and its listing on EDX Markets, the Wall Street-backed crypto exchange in the U.S. that opened on June 20. Litecoin is still up 22.72% on the week. 

Cardano’s ADA lost 3.60% to US$0.2843 while adding 5.61% for the week. Today’s correction also seemed linked to profit-taking, even as parent company Input Output Global Inc. on Wednesday released Marlowe, a so-called toolset to build smart contracts on the blockchain. 

The total cryptocurrency market cap fell 1.32% to US$1.19 trillion in the last 24 hours, while crypto trading volume rose 0.58% to US$31.27 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.