Bitcoin Price Update

On Thursday, Bitcoin price saw a slight increase amid ongoing market volatility, though traders remained cautious with cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, XRP surged following Ripple Labs’ reduced penalty from the SEC.

Bitcoin Performance

Bitcoin climbed 1% to $57,969.0 by 09:03 ET (13:03 GMT). Despite recovering from lows of around $49,000 earlier this week, it has not reached levels prior to Monday’s downturn.

XRP Surge

XRP experienced an 18% increase to $0.61 after Ripple Labs was ordered to pay $125 million in fines to the SEC for violating securities law. This penalty is significantly lower than the $2 billion sought by the SEC. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated it was a victory for the company and the industry, though it remained uncertain if the SEC would appeal the ruling.

Market Sentiment

Although XRP gained, it failed to recover fully from weekly losses. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies remained mostly flat, affected by concerns over slowing U.S. economic growth and rising Japanese interest rates, which have negatively impacted risk-driven markets.

In the broader market, Ethereum rose 0.8% to $2,482.09, while ADA fell slightly and SOL edged up 1.5%. Meme tokens like DOGE and SHIB had mixed performances.

Consumer Credit Concerns

Analysts from 10x Research noted that U.S. consumer borrowing has slowed. Data showed that total credit outstanding rose less than expected and accounted for a significant drop in revolving debt. Rising delinquency rates on credit cards and auto loans, reaching their highest levels in years, suggest that U.S. consumers have maxed out their borrowing capacity. This scenario poses challenges to optimistic views on cryptocurrency growth. Weak consumer credit signals that the funnel for fiat-to-crypto transactions may remain limited amid economic concerns such as election uncertainty and diminishing AI buzz.