Bitcoin Dips Below $61K, Ether Slips 3% as Some PlusToken China Ponzi-Related Coins Moved to Exchanges

It appears that the movement of cryptocurrencies associated with the PlusToken Ponzi scheme from cold storage to exchanges throughout the day may have contributed to a rise in prices, as it sparked worries about an imminent surge in selling pressure on the market.

A bystander pointed out that approximately 7,000 Ether, valued at around $16 million, from the remaining $1.3 billion of Ether, was transferred to trading platforms over the last day. This could potentially signal a plan to liquidate the holdings.

Microcaps pump on market manipulation charges

Strange action happened at some unexpected corners of the crypto market.

This afternoon, U.S. federal authorities have indicted cryptocurrency trading firms Gotbit, ZM Quant, CLS Global, MyTrade, and their staff members, alleging them of market manipulation and fraud. It’s worth mentioning that a CoinDesk article from 2019 exposed how Alexey Andryunin, one of the defendants and co-founder of Gotbit, constructed his business by artificially inflating exchange volumes for minuscule cryptocurrencies using automated trading bots, aiming to get listed on price aggregators such as CoinMarketCap.

In a fleeting moment following some news reports, the value of Robo Inu (RBIF) token, as noted in the documents, nearly tripled, and by the end of the day, it had increased by 20%, according to data from CoinGecko.

Investigators, under the guidance of law enforcement, developed a cryptocurrency called NexFundAI Token for their probe, according to court records. Initially holding little worth, this token (ticker: NEX) saw a dramatic spike of up to 3,500% in value as investors eagerly jumped on the opportunity to capitalize on its growing popularity and potential profit.

Subsequently, the cost plummeted swiftly following the revelation that prosecutors had previously halted trading of the token, prior to making the charges public.

Less dovish Fed

Today’s review of conventional markets revealed that the S&P 500 reached an unprecedented peak at the end of trading, while the Nasdaq, which focuses on technology, increased by 0.6%. The rate for a 10-year U.S. Treasury bond rose to a two-month high of 4.08%, as investors analyzed the minutes from the September meeting of the Federal Reserve’s Monetary Policy Committee.

As a crypto investor, I found it intriguing to see that a significant number of Federal Reserve officials endorsed a larger interest rate reduction. However, some suggested a 25 basis point cut instead. The policymakers seemed to agree on the likelihood of further reductions, but there was a sense of disagreement regarding the speed and magnitude of these future cuts.

Currently, traders anticipate that there’s approximately a 21% chance (an increase from zero just a week ago) that the Federal Reserve will maintain interest rates unchanged during their upcoming meeting in November. On the other hand, predictions for another 0.5 percentage point reduction have diminished significantly, falling from 35% last week to virtually nonexistent now.