Bitcoin’s Price Is Rising. Thank Fed’s Powell.
Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies rose again early on Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s latest comments on inflation boosted digital assets.
has climbed 2.1% to $59,082 over the past 24 hours. The large-cap token hit a record high of about $74,000 in mid-March after the Securities and Exchange Commission gave its seal of approval to several spot ETFs, but its price has tumbled since then.
Powell said on Tuesday that the Fed recognized the risks associated with slashing interest rates “too little or too late,” as the central bank tries to bring inflation down to its 2% target without driving up unemployment. In the past, Bitcoin has tended to rally when borrowing costs are lower and financial conditions are looser.
But the crypto market is likely to remain volatile for now, according to Bitget Research’s chief analyst Ryan Lee. Bankrupt Japanese exchange Mt. Gox has been a source of uncertainty in recent weeks after it kicked off a plan to pay back its creditors. Separately the German state of Saxony has been rapidly selling Bitcoin that had been seized in January.
“Despite the slight recovery, heightened volatility in the market persists—and what drives it are the concerns over potential selloffs by creditors of Mt. Gox,” Lee wrote in a research note. “Earlier this week, news around Germany’s rapid liquidation of seized crypto estimated to be $2.2 billion in Bitcoin through major exchanges also contributed to market uncertainty.”
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Ether
,
the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, was up 1.1% to $3,099. Smaller tokens also logged gains, with
rising 0.7% to $144 and
climbing 3% to 38 cents.
Dogecoin
,
the so-called memecoin loved by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, was up 1.3% to 11 cents.
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