Bitcoin It ended the week on a strong note, briefly surging above $105,000 per coin just before Donald Trump, who pitched himself as a crypto-friendly presidential candidate, was sworn in for a second term on Monday.
After a slow start to the week, traders sold below the $90,000 level, a two-month low. was cautious About how the Fed plans interest rates this year.
But new data dropped Wednesday showed the consumer price index rose 2.9% in the 12 months to December, showing that inflation was actually rising at the end of last year. Traders said this increased the likelihood of further Fed rate cuts.
Bitcoin tends to do well in low interest rate environments, or has done well in the past, so if the Fed finds more reasons to lower borrowing costs, it could become even more attractive. The asset then topped $99,000, then snatched the $100,000 milestone again and continued its flight.
News that Trump will issue Cryptocurrency related orders His first week in office helped propel Coyne to its current position.
ETF flow
Much, if not all, of the money flowing into the Bitcoin space is coming through investors buying shares in new exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The world’s largest economies have the most financial power, and large flows of money into products tend to sway market sentiment.
Hundreds of millions of dollars left funds at the beginning of the week and at the end of last week as investors clearly spooked about what the central bank might do next.
But the tide turned on Wednesday, with a total of $755 million hit to the fund, according to data from Pharcyde Investors. Thursday was another great day, with investors dropping an additional $626 million into investment vehicles, but Friday eclipsed all of that.
Peak mining difficulty
It wasn’t just the price of Bitcoin that rose this week: So did the difficulty of mining the biggest cryptocurrency. strike New highs. The number of blocks now stands at 110.45 trillion, meaning it is harder than ever to mine new blocks.
In the world of mining, computers around the world compete to solve complex mathematical problems in order to add new blocks to the blockchain. And even if it becomes difficult for miners to complete their tasks, the network is still functioning normally.
Bitfinex hack update
In other news, the Department of Justice said The recovered Bitcoins stolen in the infamous 2016 Bitfinex hack should be returned to the exchange.
Ilya Lichtenstein stole approximately 120,000 Bitcoins (worth more than $12 billion today), and his wife, rapper and social media personality Heather “Razulkhan” Morgan, helped launder some of the funds. Federal authorities said there were no “victims” in the incident.
Some 90,000 bitcoins may ultimately be recovered and returned to Bitfinex, which said it acquired customers a whole number of years ago through its repayment program. However, not all customers agree with that view, especially considering that Bitcoin’s value has skyrocketed in the years since.
Gensler denies cryptocurrencies, but not Bitcoin
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, widely regarded as the black sheep of the crypto world, is stepping down and will soon be replaced. The regulator said in an interview Tuesday. said He views many cryptocurrencies as unregulated securities, but said that in the future Bitcoin could be traded like commodities such as gold, CNBC reported.
“We have Bitcoin. In the future it could be something else,” he said, alluding to how gold has been traded for 10,000 years.
President Trump’s Executive Order
source of information said decryption The president-elect plans to issue a crypto-related executive order to support the industry on his first day in office. A number of reforms are being considered, including some that have not been previously reported, including instructing regulators to establish a virtual currency working group to reach a common understanding of the industry. may include doing so.
The president-elect campaigned on a promise to support Bitcoin users and Bitcoiners as a whole.
Coinbase Bitcoin Loan
Coinbase, the largest virtual currency exchange in the United States, I started Bitcoin-backed loans again after discontinuing two years ago. The loan allows investors to instantly borrow up to $100,000 in USDC stablecoins using their “digital gold” as collateral.
This new service will be powered by a third party, namely Morpho, a lending protocol on Base, the Ethereum layer 2 network developed by Coinbase.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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