Good morning crypto: bitcoin, ethereum flattens as US job data indicates a growing economy

Editors note: Price references were at press time (11:30 am WAT).

Here's your Thursday morning crypto market update:

• Bitcoin continues to stay flat above the psychological threshold of $20,000 Thursday morning (+0.04% over the last 24 hours). The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization fell below $20,000 in yesterday's afternoon trading — between 2 pm and 5 pm WAT. It has since stayed above that level.
• Ethereum, the second largest crypto by market cap, edged up roughly 0.8% over the last 24 hours. Ethereum prices are down roughly 17% since the much-storied Merge on Sept. 15.

Driving the market

• Macroeconomics continues to be the dominant factor behind crypto prices — and other risk assets.

• High inflation in 2022 has pushed central banks globally to embark on monetary tightening activities. Interest rate hikes have been the most popular way to battle inflation.
• Central banks in 10 big developed economies have raised their respective interest rates in 2022.
• That was a significant factor in the crypto market crash earlier in the year.
• As previously reported by Crypto Africa, interest rate increases tend to drive investors away from risk assets in favor of relatively safer vehicles, which benefit from rake hikes.
• Now, investors expect top apex banks to slow the pace of rate hikes following expert warnings that the aggressive monetary tightening could lead to a worse global recession than witnessed in 2007.
• The ADP Employment, a measure of job creation among United States private companies, grew by 208,000 in September, a 12% increase vs. August.
• Why it matters: Job creation in developed markets such as the U.S. is one of the indications that the economy is growing. Investors tend to put more capital in risk assets when the economy grows.

Elsewhere

• Telsa CEO Elon Musk has revived his plans to acquire social media platform Twitter at the initially agreed price of $44 billion, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission.
• Caitlin Long, the CEO of crypto financial institution Custodia Bank, believes the deal could open the door for Twitter to become a payments platform, with the Bitcoin layer two solution Lightning a potential beneficiary.

Altcoin 24-hour price update

• Binance's BNB coin is up 0.8% to roughly $294.
• MATIC, Polygon's native coin, is up approximately 1.6% to $0.84.
• Ripple's XRP is up 3% over the past day to nearly $0.5.
• Cardano's ADA has gained 0.53% in the last 24 hours, trading around the $0.4 mark.
• Chainlink's LINK coin is up roughly 2% to $7.8.
• Solana's SOL edged up 0.7% to $34.