
Bitcoin's price dropped significantly and suddenly at the beginning of the week as investors prepared for the upcoming Federal Reserve policy decision and weighed the implications of concerns around Binance. The cryptocurrency was most recently down 3% at $29,198.15, according to Coin Metrics, after hitting its lowest in more than a month at $28,995.02. It is uncertain what caused the abrupt decline, although it coincided with an article from the Wall Street Journal that renewed unease among investors about Binance. In private conversations in 2019, CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao allegedly revealed that Binance's affiliates may have been responsible for a portion of the volume during the launch of its U.S. trading platform, which could constitute as "wash trading" meant to inflate volume. Aside from that, the market is watching the outcome of the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting, which concludes Wednesday.
Yuya Hasegawa, crypto market analyst at Japanese bitcoin exchange Bitbank, stated, "Bitcoin is still fluctuating within a narrow range for a little more than a week, and it will likely continue to do so until the conclusion of this week's FOMC meeting." Rate hikes throughout 2022 have caused bitcoin's prices to decrease, in addition to other negative catalysts. Although bitcoin has been resilient and equities are rallying, worries about recession remain since the effects of rate hikes and current signs of economic slowing can still be seen. Hasegawa added, "We have yet to see June's personal consumption expenditure … and they will not likely hasten to make the decision to halt rate hikes until they have more data and are more confident that inflation is coming down. This means that FOMC's rate decisions henceforth will likely continue to be 'live,' and bitcoin may not successfully break out of $31,500 for another while."
Comments