Bitcoin (BTC) was stuck just below $30,000 early in Asia Wednesday as investors awaited the likely resumption of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate-hike campaign. Dogecoin (DOGE) surged 7% amid optimism about what Elon Musk’s latest moves at Twitter mean for the meme coin.
BTC zoomed above $30,000 about a month ago after finance giant BlackRock’s application for a bitcoin ETF spurred speculation this – if the world’s largest asset manager wins regulatory approval – could funnel large amounts of money from conventional investors into digital assets. But it’s been stuck around that level ever since, partly due to worry about the Fed’s looming July 26 decision – a likely 25 basis point (bps) rate increase.
The price of BTC was around $29,140 at press time, up 0.2% versus 24 hours earlier.
“Inflation and rate concerns could be what [has been] keeping crypto prices depressed,” Noelle Acheson wrote in her “Crypto is Macro” newsletter Tuesday.
Bitcoin had tumbled below $29,000 at one point Monday – its lowest level since June – after The Wall Street Journal reported that Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao had suggested in a private conversation that the crypto exchange’s affiliates had conducted wash trading several years ago, and China’s policymakers warned of a tortuous economic recovery.
The Monday “BTC drop was sharp, which normally suggests a programmatic sale,” Acheson wrote. “These usually recover relatively quickly, but the new lower BTC level seems to be holding, reinforcing the idea that there are just not enough new buyers ready to take positions yet.”
Dogecoin (DOGE)
DOGE was recently above $0.08, a level that, until Monday, it hadn’t surpassed since April. The price spiked Tuesday after CoinDesk published a story suggesting that billionaire Elon Musk’s brazen overhaul of Twitter – now called X – could broaden use of the popular memecoin and other cryptos.
Musk has taken a special interest in DOGE with his various pronouncements even before he acquired Twitter, driving the token’s price. “Elon clearly has an affinity for DOGE, almost as part of a running joke, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually went through with enabling payments via DOGE,” Brian D. Evans, CEO and founder of BDE Ventures, a Web3 venture studio and advisory firm, told CoinDesk.
Ether (ETH), XRP, Solana (SOL)
Ether (ETH), the second-largest crypto by market value, was recently changing hands at around $1,850, up 0.4% versus 24 hours earlier. Among other major altcoins, XRP was recently up 1.3%, while SOL, the native crypto of the Solana smart contracts platform, gained 0.9%.
The CoinDesk Market Index, a measure of overall crypto market performance, was recently up 0.3%. The CoinDesk Bitcoin and Ethereum trend indicators were in neutral territory, a downturn from earlier this month when they held steady in uptrend mode.
