Bitcoin (BTC) again retested the $100,000 mark, driven by renewed optimism surrounding potential Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts.
Bitcoin rebounded to a high of $101,201 in Wednesday's session after two days of falls, as firming expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut boosted investor sentiment. Speculators increased their bets on a decrease after U.S. consumer-price inflation met expectations.
The consumer price index report for November published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday showed a 12-month inflation rate of 2.7% and an increase of 0.3% on a monthly basis.
card
Core inflation, excluding food and energy prices, was 3.3% annually and 0.3% monthly. These figures were consistent with the Dow Jones consensus estimates.
The report comes ahead of the Federal Reserve's final policy meeting next week, where rate cuts will be announced. There is a strong expectation that the Fed might cut rates further in the meeting with traders, pricing in a nearly 99% chance of a quarter-point rate cut, but that the Fed might skip a January cut as it measures the impact previous cuts have had on the economy.
Investors are expecting more economic data, with the November producer price index report due out on Thursday.
Bitcoin changed hands at $100,839 as of press time, holding half of a nearly 5% gain from the day before, the largest in two weeks.
Bitcoin predicted to reach $200,000
On Dec. 5, after 5,256 trading days, the Bitcoin price crossed $100,000 for the first time, and the market capitalization momentarily exceeded $2 trillion.
card
Following a retest of the $100,000 mark, with Bitcoin reaching highs of $101,984 on Wednesday and $101, 953 today, all eyes are on where Bitcoin will go next.
The year 2024 was a landmark year for crypto, and expectations are in place for 2025 which Bitcoin ETF issuer Bitwise predicts might mark the beginning of a golden era for crypto. Bitwise recently released 10 predictions for the year ahead, among which it predicts higher inflows for Bitcoin ETFs and a BTC price above $200,000.
