Volatility in the crypto market reached extreme levels earlier this week, with Bitcoin plummeting from $63,000 to $49,438 as fear of recession grew among investors
Bitcoin price started the week in a downtrend as fear of a recession gripped investors following a job report that showed the unemployment rate in the United States had risen to 4.3%. The unemployment rate was expected to rise to 4.2%, but the initial jobless claims report indicated that the filings for unemployment weren't as bad as many had anticipated. This sparked a recovery rally in the crypto market.
However, the unemployment rate had risen from 4.1% in May, indicating that the labor market was still cooling off. This had sparked concerns among investors that the Federal Reserve might slow down its aggressive interest rate hikes. The unemployment rate had remained stubbornly low throughout 2022, despite the high inflation rate.
Another factor that caused Bitcoin to fall by a significant margin was the rising tension in the Middle East. Israel carried out airstrikes on the Gaza Strip after rockets were fired from the territory into southern Israel. This marked the first airstrikes by Israel on the territory in several months.
Meanwhile, XRP and Solana emerged as the top performers this week, posting gains of 5.6% and 7.5%, respectively. XRP rallied after a ruling that its issuer, Ripple, will be paying a fine of $125 million to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
This ruling saw Ripple avoid a massive fine of $2 billion that the SEC had demanded in exchange for ending a lawsuit it brought against the crypto company in 2020. The fine will be paid by Ripple as part of a settlement agreement with the SEC over allegations that XRP was sold as an unregistered security.
The SEC had alleged that Ripple raised over $1.3 billion through XRP sales, which were conducted without registering the token with the agency. The settlement will also see Ripple executives paying a total fine of $28.5 million and Ripple giving up two parcels of land in Colorado.
Solana, on the other hand, continued its recovery this week after posting losses of over 50% following the FTX collapse. The token had started the year at an all-time high of $260 but slipped into the red as the crypto market crashed.
Solana is now up over 100% from its 2023 lows and recently hit a high of $153. The token has been rallying despite the poor performance of Ethereum, which is yet to capitalize on the launch of ETF
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