Investing.com– Bitcoin fell on Wednesday, extending recent losses as an improvement in risk appetite, on progress towards reopening the U.S. government, spurred little buying in cryptocurrency markets.
Bitcoin fell 1.8% to $103,344.1 by 00:28 ET (05:28 GMT), having earlier in the day fallen as low as $102,737.9.
The world’s largest crypto has struggled to make headway after logging deep losses in early-November, where it had briefly fallen below $100,000. Recent improvements in broader risk appetite also largely failed to spill over into crypto markets, as traders pivoted into equities.
US govt. reopening in sight, House vote awaited
The U.S. government came closer to ending its longest ever shutdown this week, after the Senate on Monday approved a measure aimed at unlocking more government funding until Jan 30.
The bill now heads to the House of Representatives, with the Republican majority signaling that it will approve the bill in a Wednesday vote. The bill will then head to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.
Optimism over an end to the shutdown, which entered its 42nd day on Tuesday, helped lift broader risk-driven markets, especially equities. But traders were seen steering largely clear of crypto, as sentiment towards the sector was also dented by growing doubts over Bitcoin treasury companies.
China accuses US of $13 bln Bitcoin theft
China’s cybersecurity agency on Tuesday accused the American government of stealing about $13 billion worth of Bitcoin.
The accusation concerns the theft of 127,272 Bitcoins from China’s LuBian Bitcoin mining pool in December 2020, one of the largest crypto heists in history.
According to Chinese authorities, the hack was a “state-level hacker operation” led by the United States.
JPMorgan starts rolling out JPM Coin token
Major Wall Street bank JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) began rolling out a deposit token called JPM Coin to institutional investors this week, as it and other financial institutions continue to broaden their presence in digital asset markets.
The token represents dollar deposits at the bank and allows users to send and receive money though a Coinbase-affiliated blockchain, Base, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
Crypto price today: altcoins sink tracking Bitcoin
Broader crypto prices all retreated tracking Bitcoin, as sentiment towards crypto remained largely negative.
World no.2 crypto Ether fell 2.8% to $3,448.93, while XRP fell 3.1% to $2.3986.
BNB fell 2.5%, Cardano lost 3.7%, while Solana shed 5.9%.
Among meme tokens, Dogecoin fell 3.4%, while $TRUMP shed 8.8%.
Read more on Investing.com South Africa
