Bitcoin closes in on US$24,000, lifts crypto top 10

Bitcoin was up on Monday morning in Asia, reaching its highest price in five months. Ether also rose along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, with Solana and Litecoin posting the biggest gains. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization has remained above US$1 trillion for the eighth consecutive day, the longest streak since August 2022.

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Fast facts

• Bitcoin traded 3.2% higher at US$23,764 in the 24 hours to 8 a.m. in Hong Kong, after reaching a high of US$23,918 overnight. It’s up 4.6% in the past calendar week. Ether was up 4.7% to US$1,645 on Monday morning, and 1.1% for the past week, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

• Solana, a network once backed by Sam Bankman-Fried, rose 8.9% to US$26.11, with a 7.8% weekly gain, as the network continues to recover from FTX-related damages.

• Litecoin was up 6% to change hands at US$94.98, bringing its weekly gains to 8.4%, after reporting that its network has had zero downtime in 11 years of existence.

• The total crypto market cap was up 3.2% to US$1.08 trillion, while the total trading volume rose 38% to US$51.28 billion.

• U.S. equities closed higher on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%, the S&P 500 Index gained 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 1%.

• Three major tech companies are slated to release their earnings this coming week, Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc., which will be closely watched for signs of whether recent widespread job cuts in the sector are to extend further into 2023.

• The U.S. Federal Reserve is meeting this week from Jan. 31 to Feb. 1. The Fed is expected to raise its benchmark interest rate by a further 25 basis points as part of its ongoing effort to cool down inflation. The central bank announced a 50-basis points rate hike to a targeted range between 4.25% and 4.5% last month.

• In December, the U.S. consumer price index, a leading inflation indicator, increased by 6.5% year-over-year, down from the 7.1% recorded in November for the largest monthly decline since April 2020.

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