Bitcoin
Steady at $69K Amid Fed Fears, Spot Ether ETF Watch By Investing.com
Investing.com – The price of Bitcoin was little changed on Thursday as the cryptocurrency’s recent rally on the back of excitement over a potential Ether exchange-traded spot fund was largely undermined by renewed fears of high U.S. interest rates.
US rate jitters generated strong overnight gains in , which put pressure on cryptocurrency prices across the board.
fell 0.3% in the last 24 hours to $69,418.9 at 01:21 ET (05:21 GMT). The world’s largest cryptocurrency has returned to a trading range seen for most of the past two months after a brief breakout earlier this week.
The world’s No. 2 token has hovered around the two-month highs reached earlier this week, retaining a large portion of the gains made on excitement over the potential approval of a spot Ether ETF for U.S. markets. The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to make a decision on the matter as early as Thursday or Friday.
Spot Ether ETF dominates market focus
Ether rose slightly in the last 24 hours to $3,776.69. The token marked a strong rally this week after reports on Monday said the SEC had asked certain exchanges to adjust their registrations for spot Ether ETFs.
While the move marked some progress toward approval of the spot ETF, it did not guarantee its approval.
The SEC is now expected to rule on spot Ether ETF applications from VanEck, ARK Investment Management and seven other issuers later on Thursday or Friday.
The approval of a spot Ether ETF could invite more capital flows into crypto markets, similar to those seen with the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF earlier this year. But those
Crypto Price Today: Rate Jitters Intensify, Prices Decline
Broader cryptocurrency markets generated a large portion of the gains made earlier this week as fears of longer US interest rate hikes grew following some aggressive signals from the Federal Reserve.
Minutes from the Fed’s late April meeting showed growing concerns among policymakers about sticky inflation, with some members even signaling they were prepared to raise rates to curb inflation.
A number of Fed officials also warned this week that the bank had little confidence that inflation was declining steadily toward its 2% annual target.
While the chances of another rate hike are slim, any tightening in inflation will likely delay the Fed’s plans to begin cutting rates. High fees for longs bode poorly for cryptocurrency markets, given that the sector generally thrives in low-fee, high-liquidity markets.
Altcoin prices mostly fell on Thursday. fell 2.2, while losing 1.2%. Among meme tokens, it fell 0.7%, while it lost 0.8%.