Bitcoin and Ethereum have opened this week’s trade in the red, dragging the altcoin market down in the early Monday hours.

 

Hopes for a sustained rally following a strong week were put on ice, with Bitcoin down 0.47% to US$20,419 and Ethereum down 0.84% to US$1,140. 

 

After creeping above the $1tln barrier over the weekend, global market cap slid back to $912.86bln for a 3.37% day-on-day drop.

 

Poorly performing tokens included STEPN, currently 11.46% down despite recent bullish price action, and decentralised finance (DeFi) project Convex Finance, down 8.55% after being among the top-performing DeFi tokens in recent weeks.

 

Chiliz opened strong, with the fan-engagement project posting a 5.35% climb against the day, while privacy coin Monero shot up 3.7%.

 

Ripple’s dispute with the Securities Exchange Commission took a sour turn when the regulator sought a Daubert motion to prohibit scrutiny of its expert witnesses.

 

The “extreme position” is “an effort to prevent criticism of its experts from reaching the public,” according to Ripple’s lawyers Debevoise & Plimpton.

 

Speaking of the SEC, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has appointed ex-SEC Hong Kong CEO Ashley Alder as the watchdog’s new chair effective from January 2023.

 

The news comes amid a blow to the UK’s crypto hub plans following the departure of Rishi Sunak from the cabinet.

 

The whereabouts of Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, founders of bankrupt hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, remains unclear as creditors attempt to proceed with the British Virgin Islands-based fund’s liquidation.

 

CoinDesk reports that an emergency hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday July 12 in New York.

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