Oct 11 2024: Bitcoin’s price dipped on Friday as regulatory concerns and stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation data exerted pressure, tempering hopes for smaller interest rate cuts.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency briefly slipped below a key support level on Thursday but managed a short-lived recovery above $60,000. Broader crypto markets also remained largely subdued.
As of 01:59 ET (05:59 GMT), Bitcoin was down 0.5% at $60,645.7, marking a 2.3% decline for the week.
SEC Targets Cumberland, Shakes Crypto Market On Thursday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged crypto market maker Cumberland DRW with operating as an unregistered dealer, handling over $2 billion in crypto assets since 2018.
This action is part of the SEC’s ongoing crackdown on what it sees as repeated violations of securities laws within the crypto sector.
The SEC is currently involved in lawsuits against major crypto exchanges Kraken and Coinbase, accusing them of violating securities regulations by treating crypto tokens as securities.
The Cumberland case heightened concerns about further regulatory actions against the industry.
Speculation surrounding a potential mass sale of approximately 64,000 Bitcoin—seized by the U.S. government from the Silk Road website—also weighed on crypto prices.
On the regulatory front, attention is now shifting toward the 2024 U.S. presidential election, where pro-crypto Republican candidate Donald Trump is in a tight race with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. Harris is expected to continue the Biden administration’s tougher stance on cryptocurrency.
Hot CPI Inflation Hits Risk Sentiment Investor sentiment was further impacted by hotter-than-expected Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released on Thursday, reinforcing expectations of a slower pace of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Higher interest rates tend to hurt speculative assets like cryptocurrencies.
The U.S. dollar surged to a two-month high this week, further pressuring crypto valuations.
Despite this, markets are still anticipating a 25 basis point rate cut by the Federal Reserve in November, with softer labor market data adding weight to this outlook.
Muted Altcoins and Meme Tokens In the broader crypto market, major altcoins were mostly flat on Friday, poised for modest weekly losses.
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, held steady at $2,406.02, while SOL, ADA, and XRP saw slight gains along with MATIC.
Among meme tokens, DOGE slipped by 0.5%.
