Bitcoin and Ether rose in Wednesday afternoon trading in Asia, along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies. Solana led gains with an 18% surge, followed by Cardano and BNB.
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Fast facts
Bitcoin edged up 0.83% to US$16,817 in the 24 hours to 4 p.m. in Hong Kong, while Ether gained 2.78% to trade at US$1,251, according to data from CoinMarketCap .
Solana, currently the 10th largest non-stablecoin crypto by market capitalization, surged 18.45% in the last 24 hours to change hands at US$14.12, mainly driven by the launch of Bonk, a Solana-focused dog-themed coin that airdropped half of its token supply last week. Solana rose 39.22% in the past calendar week.
Cardano strengthened 4.69% to change hands at US$0.2654, and BNB gained 3.63% to US$255.26.
Asian equities markets had a mixed day, as investors sought signs of interest rate changes ahead of the Wednesday release of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed 3.22% higher and the Shanghai Composite index inched up 0.22%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.45% as Japanese factory activity in December fell at the highest pace in 26 months.
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