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Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is set to marginally rise 0.3% on a weekly basis, as it traded narrowly in the week, after the keenly-awaited halving event took place last Friday.
The largest cryptocurrency prices traded in the range of $62K-$67K in the week. BTC fell briefly below $63K on Thursday, as the Q1 GDP came in at an annual rate of 1.6% signalling sticky inflation, which further dented rate cut hopes.
BTC however, quickly recovered back to the $63K mark, and held steady throughout the day.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) also remained at $64K today, despite a significant rise in outflows from Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). As of April 25, U.S.-listed ETFs had a daily total net outflows of $217M, according to Market data.
The crytocurrency also held steady after the core PCE price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of underlying inflation, rose in line with consensus in March.
“Bitcoin(BTC-USD) continues to consolidate in the same range it has for the last month after the much-anticipated halving event. There’s been a lot of chatter about price implications, but the real story is that Bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) programmatic monetary policy marched ahead as scheduled since the day the network started,” said Cory Klippsten, CEO of financial service firm, Swan Bitcoin.
The start of the week came off the back of the halving event, as Bitcoin (BTC-USD) went through its fourth halving event last Friday following a quadrennial software update in blockchain, marking a highly anticipated catalyst for BTC.
“Bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) annual inflation rate was cut in half, and, in roughly four years it will be cut in half again. No politics were involved, no talk of the current economic backdrop, and no last-second questioning from policymakers. This certainty and predictability stands in stark contrast to the traditional monetary system,” added Klippsten.
Notable News
- Marathon Digital (MARA) said it is increasing its hash rate target for fiscal year 2024 from 35-37 EH/s to 50 EH/s.
- Bitcoin (BTC-USD)-focused iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) has hit a notable milestone, with the recently launched exchange traded fund clocking inflows for 71 consecutive days. This puts IBIT into the top 10 of longest daily ETF inflow streaks of all time.
- Grayscale Investments took another key step in its effort to uplist its ethereum (ETH-USD) trust into a spot ethereum exchange-traded fund, while also announcing plans to launch a lower-fee alternative.
- Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management argued that Bitcoin (BTC-USD) can potentially be viewed as a “risk-off” asset, despite the fact that many investors view the digital currency as rather volatile in nature.
Bitcoin, Ether prices
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was down 1% to $6K at 3:16 pm on Friday, and Ether (ETH-USD) fell ~0.5% to $3.1K.
