Following Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks at the Jackson Hole monetary policy symposium, major cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether saw notable price shifts.
Initially, their prices surged, but about 30 minutes later, they declined, aligning with Wall Street’s broader trend of risk asset volatility, as concerns over potential interest rate hikes increased.
Powell gave a measured overview of the central bank’s efforts to address price inflation.
He acknowledged inflation’s persistence and implied that interest rate hikes might be necessary.
However, he also stated the Fed’s intention to be cautious with rate changes, only moving toward more restrictive financial conditions when confident that inflation is trending sustainably toward their targets.
Amidst his speech, the dollar’s value and treasury yields momentarily dipped, while New York stock market indices initially gained but then reversed course.
Bitcoin’s price peaked at US$26,200 in the crypto market but later retreated, similar to tech stocks.
Ether, Ethereum’s native currency, climbed higher, reaching US$1,664.
According to Ayron Ferreira, Chief Analyst at Titanium Asset, Powell’s primary concern seemed to be the job market, and he indicated the Fed’s preparedness to raise rates to meet the 2% inflation target.
Bitcoin’s value dropped slightly by midday to US$25,598.77, while Ether was up by 0.2% at US$1,647.14, as per CoinGecko data.
The combined market value of all cryptocurrencies stood at US$1.09 trillion.
André Franco of MB Research believes crypto markets will remain stable in the upcoming days, with potential movement linked to ETF requests at the SEC.
Meanwhile, a crypto analyst, Felipe Medeiros highlighted a pending case between the SEC and the world’s largest Bitcoin fund, Grayscale.
A favorable decision for Grayscale could push Bitcoin’s price to around $30,000. Conversely, an unfavorable decision might see it drop closer to $20,000.
Lastly, Thiago Rigo from Titanium Asset pointed out a collaboration between Ark Invest and Glassnode to develop a new metric for evaluating Bitcoin on-chain data, emphasizing the coins held by long-term holders.