Major cryptocurrencies exhibited weakness on Thursday night with the global cryptocurrency market capitalization declining 2.06% to $1.57 trillion, however, Theta Fuel (TFUEL), the gas token of Theta Network, struck major gains.
What Happened: Bitcoin (BTC) traded 2.44% lower at $37,709.07, while Ethereum (ETH) traded 1.97% lower at $2,351.06 over 24 hours leading to press time.
Meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE) was in the red by 1.96% at $0.305 at press time in a 24-hour period. DOGE slipped 4.83% for the week.
The Shiba Inu-themed coin registered 0.73% and 0.22% gains against BTC and ETH, respectively.
See Also: How To Buy Dogecoin (DOGE)
TFUEL was among the top gainers in a 24-hour period, as per data compiled by CoinMarketCap. The cryptocurrency traded 14.92% higher at $0.57 over 24 hours. TFUEL has soared 75.48% over the last 30 days.
Against BTC and ETH, TFUEL traded 17.75% and 17.15% higher, respectively.
Why It Matters: TFUEL has soared 1,866.66% so far since the year began. The coin has dual uses as it can be used for sending payments but also for smart contract purposes.
On Thursday, Theta said it was extending development capability with Ethereum ahead of the launch of Theta Mainnet due to debut in less than two weeks.
The project claimed in a blog post that the narrative weaved around so-called Ethereum killers has “started to fall away as competitors failed to gain traction, and the Ethereum development community proved to be a stronger factor than simply whoever had the fastest blockchain.”
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Meanwhile, the struggles of Bitcoin continue under the $40,000 level as traders digested the news that the Federal Reserve could hike interest rates by late 2023.
Some analysts are of the view that Bitcoin could maintain its strength amid a possible rise in inflation.
“Past bitcoin bull market cycles have tended to occur alongside year-over-year increases in the core CPI (consumer price index)…. and bear market cycles have come as CPI has rolled over,” wrote David Grider in a newsletter, as reported by CoinDesk.
However, If the Federal Reserve changes its policy of quantitative easing in response to higher inflation — that could interrupt Bitcoin’s upward journey.
“We expect that the Fed will announce no later than December that QE will be tapered beginning next January,” as per MRB Partners, CoinDesk reported.
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