XRP (XRP) shed double digits as Bitcoin struggled near $61k, with crypto a sea of red heading into the US trading session.This comes as investors react to geopolitical events in the Middle East and news of US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s move to appeal a court ruling in the Ripple case.

There were double digit losses for most tokens, including Sei (SEI), Lido DAO (LDO) and Ethena (ENA). However, Flare (FLR) and Aptos (APT) are among a few coins in the green.

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Cryptocurrencies were largely in red during the morning session on Thursday, Oct. 3. Source: Coin360

BTC struggles amid geopolitical crisis

The cryptocurrency market on October 3, 2024 was largely in red during the Asian trading session.

Bitcoin (BTC) touched lows of $60k as the broader market remains uncertain amid geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

Declines saw the total market cap down 3% to $2.2 trillion.

BTC hovered near $61k and at risk of further weakness as risk-on sentiment waned. Market veteran Peter Brandt pointed this out late Wednesday.

According to the analyst, Bitcoin had formed the “Three Blind Mice and a Piece of Cheese” chart pattern. A sell-off could push prices lower.

Elsewhere, the overall weakness had Ethereum (ETH) down nealy 5% to $2,372.

Meanwhile, BNB lost 2% in 24 hours to trade to lows of $550 and Solana (SOL) was down 5% to $140.

Across the market, altcoins such as SEI, LDO and Ethena shed over 12% each.

Meme coins also dipped. Dogwifhat and Bonk were down 15% and 14% respectively at the time of writing.

Flare and Aptos defy downturn

While most coins as seen in the crypto heat map above are red, a few are holding onto gains seen in the past 24 hours.

Aptos (APT), Tron (TRX) and Stacks (STX) fall into this category (as of writing).

However, bucking the trend in a big way is Flare (FLR).  

FLR was up 15% at the time of writing to change hands above $0.017, the token’s highest level since early August.

SEC to appeal Ripple verdict; XRP dumps 14%

On Thursday, the price of XRP plummeted more than 14% in 24 hours to reach lows of $0.51.

XRP’s downside action follows news that the SEC had decided to appeal the 2023 court ruling in its lawsuit against Ripple.

A notice of appeal from the under-fire agency comes just days to the Oct. 7 deadline and just hours after asset manager Bitwise filed for an XRP ETF.

In July 2023, a US judge determined that XRP was not a security and secondary sales on public exchanges also weren’t.

The SEC seeks to overturn this ruling.

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