Bitcoin below $30k before likely rate hike, Dogecoin up 7%

The price of bitcoin was near $29,140, 0.2 per cent higher compared to 24 hours earlier

Bitcoin stayed just below $30,000 early in Asia Wednesday as investors awaited the likely restart of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate-hike campaign. Dogecoin soared 7 per cent on hopes about what Elon Musk’s latest moves at Twitter mean for the meme coin.

Bitcoin surged above $30,000 nearly a month back after finance giant BlackRock’s application for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund spurred speculation this – if the world’s biggest asset manager wins regulatory approval – could channelize big amounts of money from traditional investors into digital assets. But it has been stuck near that mark since then, partly because of concern about the Federal Reserve’s looming July 26 decision – a likely 25 bps rate hike.

The price of bitcoin was near $29,140 at one time, 0.2 per cent higher compared to 24 hours earlier.

Inflation and rate concerns could be what (has been) keeping crypto prices down, Noelle Acheson stated in “Crypto is Macro” newsletter Tuesday.

Bitcoin had slipped below $29,000 at one point Monday – its lowest level since June – after The Wall Street Journal reported that Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao had suggested in a private conversation that the crypto exchange’s affiliates had conducted wash trading several years ago, and China’s policymakers cautioned of a tortuous economic recovery.

The Monday BTC decline was steep, which usually indicates a programmatic sale, Acheson stated. These generally recover relatively fast, but the new lower bitcoin level appears to be holding, strengthening the idea that there are just not enough new buyers prepared to take positions yet.

Dogecoin was recently above $0.08, a level that, until Monday, it had not exceeded since April.

Ether, the second-biggest crypto in terms of market value, was recently trading at around $1,850, 0.4 per cent higher compared to 24 hours earlier. Among other top altcoins, XRP was recently up 1.3 per cent, while Solana, the native crypto of the Solana smart contracts platform, added 0.9 per cent.

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