Cryptocurrencies retreated early on Thursday amidst renewed recession worries in the U.S.
PMI readings for the month of March for the U.S. services sector showed a lower-than-expected reading of 51.2. Markets had expected it to fall to 54.5 from 55.1 earlier.
Non-farm payrolls and unemployment rate, two key labor market indicators are due from the U.S. on Friday and would provide guidance on the strength of the labor market and the headroom it would provide for the Fed to raise rates further. Unemployment rate is seen steady at 3.6 percent whereas addition to nonfarm payrolls is seen at 239 thousand versus 311 thousand a month earlier.
Overall crypto market capitalization is currently at $1.18 trillion, versus $1.20 trillion a day earlier. Amidst the 2-percent drop in market capitalization, 80 percent of the top 100 cryptocurrencies are trading in the negative territory.
Bitcoin (BTC) has shed 2.2 percent overnight and 2.3 percent in the past week to trade at $27,949.97. The leading cryptocurrency which has gained 68 percent in 2023 currently dominates 45.8 percent of the overall crypto market.
Leading alternate coin Ethereum (ETH) also shed 2.5 percent overnight to trade at $1,866.62, days ahead of the much-anticipated Shanghai hard fork. The upgrade would allow withdrawal of the staked Ethereum from the Beacon chain, paving the way for lower transaction costs and higher transaction speed. Ether which dominates 19.1 percent of the overall crypto market has gained 3.6 percent in the past week and 56 percent in 2023.
Meanwhile, the Australia Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) announced that it has on Thursday cancelled the Australian Financial Services or AFS license held by Oztures Trading Pty Ltd, trading as Binance Australia Derivatives (Binance). The licence cancellation was done in response to a request to cancel received from Binance on Wednesday. The development comes amidst the ASIC issuing on 29 March 2023, a notice of hearing under s915C of the Corporations Act 2001 to consider whether ASIC should cancel or suspend the AFS licence held by Oztures Trading Pty Ltd.
In view of the cancellation, with effect from 14 April 2023, clients would not be able to increase derivatives positions or open new positions with Binance. Binance would require clients to close any existing derivative positions before 21 April 2023. Also, on 21 April 2023, Binance would have to close any remaining open positions.
Amidst the developments, 4th ranked BNB (BNB) is trading at $312, down 1.3 percent on an overnight basis and 1.6 percent on a weekly basis.
84th ranked Trust Wallet Token is the top gainer with a surge of 9.2 percent in the past 24 hours. TWT surged amidst reports of Trust Wallet partnering with Ramp and MoonPay for crypto-to-fiat withdrawals. 57th ranked Neo (NEO) also rallied more than 5 percent.
Twitter-led rally in 8th ranked Dogecoin (DOGE) fizzled, and the meme-coin shed 8.8 percent in the past 24 hours. The canine-themed cryptocurrency is still holding on to gains of 19 percent in the past week and 27 percent in 2023.
45th ranked Stacks (STX), 53rd ranked Conflux (CFX) and 44th ranked Fantom (FTM) have also shed more than 7 percent in the past 24 hours.
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April 17, 2026 15:29 ET The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to raise concerns for policymakers who worry about the impact of the supply shock and high energy prices on the real economy. Producer price data and various survey results on the housing market were the main news from the U.S. this week. In Europe, industrial production data for the euro area gained attention. GDP figures out of China and the policy move by the Singapore central bank were in focus in Asia.