Crypto prices steady, Arbitrum DAO drama and what's coming down the line in markets

Quick Take

  • Bitcoin was trading at around $28,200, up about 2.4% over the past week. 
  • Arbitrum’s ARB fell over 7% following news that the Arbitrum Foundation had sold ARB before a community vote had ratified its budget. 

Crypto prices shrugged off the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's case against Binance early in the week as bitcoin clocked its best quarter since 2021.

Bitcoin was trading at $28,200, up about 2.6% over the past week, according to Coinbase data via TradingView. The first quarter of the year saw bitcoin jump more than 70% as risk assets rallied, leading to its best quarter since the first of 2021. 

Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao are being sued by the CFTC for allegedly violating federal laws and not registering the exchange in the U.S. The regulator's move caused crypto prices to dip at the top of the week before shrugging off the news. The BNB coin fell about 3% to $314 over the past week.

Ether was up about 3.2% over the past seven days, trading around $1,800. Ripple's XRP added around 18% following news from its case with the SEC, although a verdict is still some time off. Cardano's ADA added over 8%, and dogecoin jumped 7.5% in the same period.

DAO-rama

The price of ARB fell to $1.18, down 7.2% over the past 24 hours, according to data via CoinGecko.

The drop followed the news that the Arbitrum Foundation had begun selling ARB tokens for stablecoins before the community had formally ratified its budget. 

RELATED INDICES

What's coming up

With the first quarter of 2023 over and done with, several key economic indicators lie ahead in April for the U.S. Traders and the Fed will keenly watch next Friday's U.S. jobs report. Any signs of a softening labor market could impact interest rate expectations. 

Inflation data for March on April 12 will also prove pivotal to any potential Fed pivots or pauses. An advanced estimate of first-quarter GDP will be released on April 27. 

There's no Fed decision in April, with the next FOMC interest rate decision expected on May 3. The CME's FedWatch tool shows markets are split on whether the Fed will pause or increase by 25 basis points again. 


© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Adam Morgan is a reporter covering cryptocurrency, financial markets, and economics – anything from price movements, earnings reports, and inflation to the U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate decisions and everything in between. Adam is based in London.

Editor

To contact the editor of this story:
Christiana Loureiro at
[email protected]