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Markets: Bitcoin dips, Ether little changed; Huobi Token surges amid stake sale speculation

Timmy Shen
·2-min read

Bitcoin fell while Ethereum traded little changed on Friday afternoon in Asia. Huobi Token, the native coin of China crypto exchange Huobi, jumped 18.9% in the last 24 hours after Bloomberg reported its founder was seeking to sell a majority stake in the business.

See related article: Markets: Bitcoin, Ether retreat as investors digest inflation, Blackrock developments

Fast facts

  • Bitcoin was trading at US$23,946, down 2.1% in the prior 24 hours as of 4 p.m. in Hong Kong, while Ethereum dipped 0.47% to change hands at US$1,886, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

  • Support for both major tokens seemed to fizzle out ahead of the weekend after gaining ground earlier in the week on data showing a slower inflation reading in the U.S. and the announcement overnight that asset manager BlackRock was setting up a Bitcoin investment fund.

  • Ethereum Classic, the coin from the original network before Ethereum’s previous hard fork, gained 8.18% to US$41.6, reflecting interest ahead of Ethereum’s “Merge”.

  • Huobi Token, issued by one of the largest crypto exchanges, was changing hands at US$5.26, up 18.67% after Bloomberg reported that Huobi Group founder Leon Li is in talks to sell his majority stake in the exchange to a number of investors at a valuation of as much as US$3 billion.

  • Justin Sun, founder of blockchain Tron, and the crypto exchange FTX are reportedly among those who are in talks with Li.

  • Sun said on Twitter that “We have not engaged (in) any matters related to the Bloomberg story at this moment.” FTX declined to comment, according to Bloomberg.

  • Tron, the 17th largest crypto by market cap, edged down 0.46% to US$0.07044, and the FTX Token fell 4.27% to trade at US$30.58.

  • Asia equity markets had a mixed day. The Nikkei 225 closed up 2.62%, while the Shanghai Composite index was little changed at 0.15% lower. The Hong Kong Hang Seng index nudged up a slight 0.46%.

See related article: BlackRock backflips on Bitcoin as latest institution to see promise in crypto