XRP, Bitcoin Price Fall. What's Driving the Crypto Selloff. — Barrons.com
By Elsa OhlenXRP, Bitcoin and other cryptos were falling early Monday, suffering from fears that the monetary easing cycle may not continue at pace this year.The price of the world's largest digital coin, Bitcoin, is down 2.2% over the last 24 hours to last trade at $91,636.XRP, another popular cryptocurrency which is used to settle transactions on Ripple's payment platform, fell 2% to $2.43. Yet, the smaller crypto rose over the weekend, hitting $2.60 on Saturday, possibly linked to expected news from the the Securities and Exchange Commission.The SEC sued Ripple in 2020, saying that by selling XRP the company was selling an unregistered security. In August 2024, a court ordered Ripple to pay a $125 million fine for violating investor-protection laws, less than the $2 billion sought by the regulator. The SEC appealed the decision in October and has until Jan. 15 to submit arguments in support of its appeal.On Friday, cryptocurrencies were hit by a hotter than expected U.S. jobs report. As crypto prices tend to fall when the prospect of higher interest rates increases, and the jobs report fueled investor fears that the Federal Reserve may keep rates higher for longer, crypto investors felt the pressure."The cutting cycle is over," BofA analysts wrote Friday after the December jobs numbers.The next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting takes place on Jan. 28-29 and investors are increasingly confident the central bank will hold interest rates steady.Among other cryptocurrencies, Ether is down 3.9% over the last 24 hours, while Solana is down 4.1% and Dogecoin 4.3% lower.Write to Elsa Ohlen at [email protected] content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.