Bitcoin Slips 2% Last Week, Remains Rangebound At $18,500-$19,500; Check Why It's Under Pressure

Even as the talks of recession going on globally, Bitcoin is witnessing a selloff. However, it slipped 2 per cent last week and remained range-bound between $18,500 and $19,500. After the latest data showed that the US inflation rose more than expected in September, Bitcoin witnessed a selloff to $18,300 levels.

US consumer prices increased more than expected in September and underlying inflation pressures continued to build up, reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve will deliver a fourth 75-basis points interest rate hike on November 2. The consumer price index rose 0.4 per cent last month after gaining 0.1 per cent in August.

Despite the continued moderation as supply chains ease and oil prices retreat from the highs seen in the spring, inflation is running way above the Fed’s 2 per cent target. Gasoline prices have likely bottomed following last week’s decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies to cut oil production. Russia’s war against Ukraine poses an upside risk to food prices.

The total crypto market cap is currently at about $900 billion. However, the global economic uncertainty may pull down the market cap in the short term. The bitcoin has seen a huge decline of about 68 per cent year-on-year to $19,244 on Monday (October 17), compared with $61,527 on October 17, 2021.

The top-five losers during the last week were — Klaytn (KLAY), which declined 23.1 per cent; Near Protocol (NEAR), which fell 15.4 per cent; Ethereum Classic (ETC), which slipped 14.8 per cent; Internet Computer (ICP), which plummeted 14.3 per cent; and Ravencoin (RVN), which was down by 13.4 per cent.

However, there are some cryptocurrencies that have seen positive growth in the past week. Huobi Token (HT) witnessed a significant 72.52 per cent jump, Terra Classic USD (USTC) surged 41.7 per cent, Quant (QNT) rose 21.1 per cent, Casper (CSPR) was up 13.2 per cent, and Ethereum Name Service (ENS) jumped 12.1 per cent.

Ethereum scaling platform Polygon (MATIC) has launched Polygon zkEVM Public Testnet, an ‘Ethereum-equivalent’ ecosystem with cross-compatibility to existing smart contracts, developer tools, and wallets. Zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) is a layer-2 construction on top of Ethereum that aims to enhance scalability through mass transfer processing rolled into a single transaction.

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