Markets
Cryptocurrency markets fall as Powell holds interest rates
Bitcoin fell 2% and Ethereum fell 1.5%, while Solana and Polkadot made minor gains.
Cryptocurrency markets declined on Monday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank was not yet ready to cut interest rates.
Bitcoin fell 2% to $61,850, while Ethereum fell 1.5%. Meanwhile, Solana and Polkadot are trading flat on the day.
“Bitcoin dominance has fallen by more than 5% in recent days, from 52.8% on June 25 to around 50% today. This decline typically encourages market diversification, pushing investors to explore other digital assets,” said Tristan Frizza, founder of Zeta Markets.
Among the top 100 digital assets by market cap, Solana memecoin BONK (BONK) and gaming blockchain Beam (BEAM) were the biggest gainers over the past 24 hours, up 7% and 6% respectively.
“We have made considerable progress in getting inflation back to our target,” Powell told a forum of central bankers in Europe. “We want to be more confident that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2% before we begin the process of reducing or easing monetary policy.”
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) attracted $129.5 million in inflows on July 1, the highest level since June 7, according to Farside. data.
Leading the pack was Fidelity’s FBTC, which saw $65 million in inflows. Bitwise’s BITB attracted $41.4 million, and ARK’s ARKB gained $12.7 million. In total, Bitcoin ETFs have accumulated $14.7 billion in assets since their launch in January.
Spot Ether ETFs — once approved for trading in the United States — could attract net inflows of up to $5 billion in the first six months, according to a research report released Monday by cryptocurrency exchange Gemini.
U.S. stocks were flat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%, while the S&P 500 jumped 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5%.