Bitcoin approached $29,000 for the first time since June as Federal Reserve officials meet to decide whether to paused their series of interest-rate increases.
(Bloomberg) — Bitcoin approached $29,000 for the first time since June as Federal Reserve officials meet to decide whether to paused their series of interest-rate increases.
The largest digital currency by market value rose as much as 2.3% to $28,793 as of 11:41 a.m. in New York. Bitcoin has rallied about 70% this year. That comes on the back of last year’s 64% decline.
“There’s some appetite for Bitcoin ahead of the Fed because for pricing in the possibility that the Fed will surprise with a dovish side,” said Ilan Solot, co-head of digital assets at financial services firm Marex Solutions. “If the Fed surprises on the dovish side, get ready for a monster rally.”
As of Wednesday morning, markets were pricing in about 84% odds that the Fed will raise rates by a quarter point, to a range of 4.75% to 5%, the highest since 2007 on the eve of the global financial crisis.
Crypto prices have surged anew in recent weeks amid turmoil in the US and European financials sector, to which three US banks have succumbed and which brought about the takeover of Credit Suisse Group AG by UBS Group AG over the weekend. Digital-asset proponents say that their industry is a beneficiary as investors realize that tokens are out of the reach of governments and are far removed from any of the issues occurring with different lenders.
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