Market Update - October 6, 2023

1. Bitcoin and ether have another rollercoaster week: Following a pop early in the week as the US Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown, bitcoin and ether were up and down, settling around 27.5k USD and $1,600 USD, respectively, by Friday.
   
   
2. Sam Bankman-Fried’s saga continues as trial starts: SBF’s criminal trial began this week in New York City. In opening statements, the defense argued that “Sam didn’t defraud anyone,” while the prosecution described SBF’s crypto empire as a “house of cards … built on a lie.” The trial is expected to last up to six weeks.
   
   
3. Ether futures ETFs go live for trading: The first ether (ETH) futures-based exchange traded funds (ETFs) were launched on Monday by VanEck, ProShares, and Bitwise Asset Management. The total volume traded on the first day of launch came in just under $2 million USD.
   
   
4. Judge rejects SEC’s attempt to appeal Ripple ruling: The SEC faced a setback this week as a federal judge dismissed its bid to appeal the highly publicized Ripple ruling that deemed XRP sold on public exchanges is not a security. XRP rallied over 5% following the news.
   
   
5. Hiring slows in September, lowering interest rate hike expectations: Employment data from ADP showed far fewer private sector jobs were added in September than expected, and the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index slowed slightly for September. Expectations for another interest rate hike in November now sit around 20%.
   

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