Bitcoin, Ether fall with Toncoin leading losses in top 10 cryptos

Bitcoin continued to fall in Monday afternoon trade in Asia, along with Ether and all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptos, except Tron. Toncoin was the biggest loser. Global cryptocurrency markets weakened after the U.S. Federal Reserve at its September meeting indicated another interest rate hike by the end of the year, signaling that rates will remain higher for longer than anticipated. 

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Tron only gainer among top 10 cryptos

Bitcoin lost 1.44% to US$26,182 in 24 hours to 4 p.m. in Hong Kong, bringing its weekly losses to 2%, according to CoinMarketCap data. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency was hovering above US$26,500 over the weekend but lost the support level early Monday morning.

Ethereum also posted losses, dropping 0.69% to US$1,580 in the past 24 hours and 3.27% on the week. The world’s second largest cryptocurrency fell below the US$1,600 support level for the first time since Thursday.

EIP-4844, also known as the Ethereum Cancun Upgrade, is a proposed Ethereum upgrade that aims to improve the speed and cost-effectiveness of the Ethereum network.  

The average fee on the Ethereum blockchain dropped to around US$1.15 per transaction on Saturday, the lowest level since December 2022, according to blockchain intelligence firm Santiment.

“Ethereum generated US$17.9 million in fees last week, the lowest since Dec. 26. Fees have peaked out in May this year and are gradually declining, this continues to be a crucial development for Ether prices. With less than one week left in September, fees are (so far) 50% less than in August,” Markus Thielen, head of research and strategy at digital asset service platform Matrixport, wrote on Monday. 

“We mostly worry about Ethereum as weak fundamentals plus a lack of hype around the EIP-4844 upgrade (which should come sometime in Q4 2023) could make the blockchain slowly obsolete. Holders do not have unlimited patience and these upgrades are not fast enough and are marginal,” Thielen added.

All other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptos fell except Tron, which rose 0.41% to US$0.08434 in the past 24 hours, and gained 0.53% on the week.

Total crypto market capitalization dropped 1.05% to US$1.04 trillion, while market volume gained 51.52% to US$22.17 billion.