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Recovers to $70,000 as Consumer Price Index Falls and Halving Approaches From Investing.com
Investing.com — Bitcoin’s price showed surprising resilience on Thursday, holding near all-time highs even as warmer-than-expected U.S. inflation data pushed the dollar higher and shattered interest rate expectations.
Anticipation of the upcoming halving event, which will reduce the rate at which new Bitcoin is generated, seemed to offer some support to the token. But the approaching halving is also expected to spur more volatility in Bitcoin.
rose 2.1% over the past 24 hours to $70,576.4 as of 12:53 a.m. ET (04:53 GMT).
Bitcoin Halving In The Spotlight As ETF Activity Dims
Markets were now awaiting the upcoming halving event, which is expected to occur around April 20 with the generation of block #840,000 on the Bitcoin blockchain.
The event will halve the rate at which new Bitcoins are mined, linking to the idea that scarcity of the token will increase its value.
But the halving also comes as interest in spot-traded Bitcoin exchange-traded funds has waned, with recent data showing a substantial decline in daily volumes.
Bitcoin ETFs have been a key driver of the token’s rally so far in 2024, with Bitcoin still trading up around 50% year to date.
Cryptocurrency Price Today: Surprising Resilience Despite US Rate Concerns
Broader cryptocurrency prices also rose on Thursday, recovering from earlier losses despite the prospect of higher U.S. interest rates for a longer period.
The world’s No. 2 cryptocurrency rose 1.3% to $3,565.0, while gaining 1.7% and 1.5%, respectively.
Better-than-expected US data saw traders brush aside expectations that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates by June. After the reading, they also jumped to five-month highs.
This also showed that officials are increasingly concerned about sticky inflation and are calling for higher interest rates for a longer period.
Such a scenario does not bode well for cryptocurrency markets, given that they usually benefit from an environment characterized by low interest rates and high liquidity due to their speculative nature.
Uniswap Faces SEC Regulatory Action
On the regulatory front, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has notified leading decentralized exchange operator Uniswap Labs of its intention to take enforcement action against the company.
Uniswap said it had been notified by the SEC of the pending regulatory action and that it was likely related to the regulator’s stance on classifying cryptocurrencies as securities. The exchange fell 16% after the announcement.
The SEC is currently engaged in lawsuits against Coinbase (NASDAQ:) and XRP, both of which are expected to decide whether cryptocurrencies can be covered by traditional U.S. securities law.