Bitcoin Plummets Toward $60k As Federal Reserve Considers Keeping Rates Elevated

Bitcoin’s price fell 2.5% to $60,300 on Friday as Federal Reserve officials weighed their options for combatting stubborn price inflation in the United States.

• Bitcoin traded for $63,400, at noon UTC on Friday, before plummeting below $61,000 over the next few hours.
• According to Coinglass, the volatility triggered $175 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours. The single largest liquidation took place on a Binance BTC/USDT trade for $3.56 million.
• Speaking at a Louisiana Bankers Association conference in New Orleans this week, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan suggested it may be “too early to think about cutting rates,” according to Reuters.
• “I need to see some of these uncertainties resolved about the path that we’re on, and we need to remain very flexible,” Logan said.
• For the past few months, core PCE inflation – the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation metric – has failed to make meaningful progress towards the central bank’s 2% target. What’s more, data on Friday showed a jolt to consumers’ inflation expectations, with year-ahead expectations rising to 3.5% next May.
• During an interview with Reuters, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic predicted that interest rates will still come down – but possibly only by 25 basis points before the end of the year.
• “I still have that belief,” he said, noting that it is “going to take some time” before inflation finally falls.
• Lower interest rates are perceived as a boon for Bitcoin and stocks, affording investors cheaper debt for buying up risk assets.