Bitcoin (BTC) continued to hold below $27,000 as U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said stress in the banking sector might allow the central bank to ease back on rate hikes as it looks to curb hot inflation.
The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was recently trading at around $26,800, up roughly 0.3% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data. BTC’s price rose to nearly $27,200 late Friday morning as Powell – appearing with former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke at the Thomas Laubach Research Conference – said credit stress could mean interest rates would not have to go as high as previously thought.