Markets
Bitcoin and broader market choppy ahead of US GDP report
Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market are volatile ahead of the release of finalized U.S. gross domestic product data later today. The vast majority of assets in the top 100 coins by market cap are trading in the red.
Bitcoin has once again broken through the $61,000 mark and is currently trading at $60,670 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko.
Final data on U.S. gross domestic product – the biggest indicator of economic growth or decline – is expected to show 1.3% growth. This figure is important because it plays a central role in the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut rates. A strong GDP figure would likely strengthen the Fed’s determination to leave rates unchanged. Conversely, a weak GDP figure would likely accelerate the process of lowering interest rates.
Earlier this month, a comment from the Federal Reserve noted that the Fed will probably only cut rates once this year. This caused a sale in cryptocurrency markets as investors are hesitant to invest in risky assets in a high interest rate environment.
As June draws to a close, the leading cryptocurrency has not been spared from the economic downturn, with BTC falling around 10% since the start of the month. The Fed’s more aggressive than expected stance played a key role in this fall, but it is not the only factor.
On Monday, it was announced that Mt. Gox creditors would begin receiving repayments of beginning of JulyThis has spooked market participants, as nearly $9 billion worth of Bitcoin will be distributed to investors who have not had access to these funds for more than a decade.
Then yesterday the US government sent $240 million worth of BTC to Coinbase Prime, the institutional arm of Coinbase.
In addition to the US government, German authorities have aggressively sold the BTC they seized. Over the past two weeks, German authorities have sold nearly $225 million Bitcoin value.
Bitcoin isn’t the only major cryptocurrency to lose ground.
Ethereum, BNB, and Solana were all down at least 1% early this morning. And among the top 100 coins by market cap on CoinGecko, a whopping six coins were up more than 2% in the past 24 hours.
Maker, Kaspa and Ethereum Name Service have seen their prices increase by 7%, 6.7% And 4.3%respectively, while Injective, Flare and Aave saw their prices increase between 2.5% and 3.5%.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.