Bitcoin steady around $23,000 as ether moves higher; equites in the red

Bitcoin was hovering around $23,000 as ether gained. The Sandbox token jumped on news of metaverse partnership talks with Saudi Arabia. Equities slipped.

The leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization was trading around $22,900 at 10:30 a.m. EST, down about 0.2% over the past day, according to TradingView data. It had risen on Tuesday ahead of U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s talk with Carlyle Group’s David Rubenstein.

BTCUSD chart by TradingView

Ether added 2% over the past day as it traded above $1,660. Binance’s BNB was flat, Ripple’s XRP gained 1.2%, and Solana’s SOL jumped 2%. Polygon’s MATIC soared almost 6%, trading above $1.30.

The Sandbox token price continues to soar after the metaverse game platform revealed discussions of a partnership with Saudi Arabia. SAND was trading around $0.84, up nearly 18% by 10:30 a.m. EST, according to TradingView data. The token began to climb following news of a memorandum of understanding with the Middle Eastern nation around 4 p.m. EST yesterday. 

Crypto Stocks

The Nasdaq 100 was down around 1.2%, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.7%. 

Earnings watch

CME Group said on its earnings call earlier that it remains confident in its reputation as the trusted regulated marketplace for digital assets.

The CME added over 700 new digital asset customers in January as trading volumes soared. Bitcoin options volume on the CME reached an all-time high of $1.1 billion in January, according to The Block data. 

The exchange also noted that 934 accounts were added in November, more than double the typical monthly figure, and said it was a sign of the marketplace broadly turning to CME during stress periods.

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