Bitcoin
continued its descent on Monday, sliding below $60,000 for the first time since May 3.
The price of the flagship cryptocurrency was last down 7% at $59,562.54, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it fell as low as $59,021.42, about 19% from its March record. In the past week, it’s fallen nearly 11%.
Crypto investment products notched a second consecutive week of outflows, according to crypto-focused asset manager CoinShares. Last week, they saw their lowest trading volumes globally since the U.S. bitcoin ETFs launched in January.
“We have now seen $1.2 billion of outflows from crypto ETFs over the last two weeks which all began after the FOMC meeting. Our belief is that continued pessimism over the number of rate cuts is weighing on sentiment for crypto,” James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, told CNBC.
“The Fed have indicated they need to see further evidence of inflation falling before they become more dovish, so any macro say that highlights inflation continues to fall will likely support prices, and conversely, an inflationary date will weigh on prices,” he added.
Eleanor Gaywood, head of strategy at Coincover, said there are often market jitters ahead of the personal consumption expenditure index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, which is due this Friday. She said signs of a rate cut in September could ease investor nerves and steady bitcoin’s price.
