Solana falls amid hack reports; Bitcoin, Ether edge higher in mixed markets

Solana fell 4% in Asia afternoon trading on Wednesday as reports surfaced of a hack that had drained thousands of wallets holding the token. Bitcoin and Ethereum edged higher, though U.S.-China tensions were a broader concern across all markets. Bitcoin traded at US$23,187 as of 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, up 1.47% in the prior 24 hours. Ethereum was trading at US$1,636, up 3.19%, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

See related article: Solana hack affects over 7,000 Phantom, Slope wallets

Fast facts

• The Solana exploit on Wednesday had resulted in US$8 million in losses as of noon Hong Kong time, according to estimates from crypto security firm PeckShield. Solana dropped by 4% to US$38.75.
• Other tokens in CoinMarketCap’s top 10 traded higher or remained little changed.

• Caution seemed to be the overall tone in Asia, including equity markets, with traders concerned about any China response to the visit of U.S. House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.

• The Shanghai Composite index dipped 0.71%, with the Hong Kong Hang Seng and Japan’s Nikkei 225 indices little changed.
• Markets are in caution mode amid the Pelosi visit, which has prompted condemnation from Beijing and raised tensions between China and the U.S., said Andrew Sullivan, a market analyst and former equities broker.

• “The caution is not so much about the trip, which was reasonably well heralded and had been talked about for a couple of weeks. I think the caution is more about what is going to be the response from China,” Sullivan said.

See related article: Bitcoin falls in market downtrend, ETH treads water, ETC and CRO edge up