There's a question buried in this week's US economic data that sounds simple but is surprisingly hard to answer: when Americans spend more money, does that mean they're buying more, or just paying more for the same stuff? Those are completely different things, and it's important to tell them apart. If people are buying more, […]
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Polymarket traders are pricing in a high probability that the Federal Reserve holds rates steady at its July meeting, with odds rising to 94% after so
This morning's report could go a long way toward determining whether the Federal Reserve raises interest rates at its late-July meeting.
Bitcoin Reclaims $61,000 as Dovish Inflation Outlook Softens Market Fear — what the latest source material shows and why it matters for crypto markets.
Bitcoin price faces back-to-back tests this week, with May PCE coming out on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. EDT and more than $10 billion in Bitcoin options settling on Deribit at 08:00 UTC Friday in the quarterly expiry that closes the second quarter. Bitcoin is trading near $62,500 after a rough June that briefly pushed it […]
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Bitcoin was designed as a hedge against inflation, but every hot inflation report in the past year has knocked its price lower, and Thursday's data was no different. The Producer Price Index rose 1.1% in May, lifting the annual increase to 6.5%, the fastest pace since November 2022 and well above the 0.7% monthly gain […]
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For the better part of two years, Wall Street has treated AI as the most bullish trade on the board, a growth engine that turbocharges earnings, underwrites stretched valuations, and promises a productivity windfall somewhere down the road. However, the Fed has access to the same numbers and seems to be more inclined to treat […]
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The US economy added 172,000 jobs in May, more than double the 80,000 that Wall Street economists had expected, and the unemployment rate held at 4.3%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also revised March and April higher by a combined 93,000 positions, which left the spring looking much stronger than anyone believed a month […]
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Rising interest rates could dampen investment in cryptocurrencies, impacting market stability and investor confidence.
The post Bitcoin extends losses below $69K as Fed’s Hammack warns sticky inflation may force rate hike appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
Headline PCE inflation rose 3.8% in April from a year earlier, its hottest pace in two years and nearly double the Federal Reserve's 2% goal, while core PCE held at 3.3%, its highest reading since October 2023. The monthly numbers ran cooler, with core easing to 0.2% against the 0.3% economists had expected. Bitcoin saw […]
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Bitcoin (BTC) dropping below the $80,000 mark is starting to undo some of the optimism that followed a major step forward for the industry. After the Senate Banking Committee markup for the CLARITY Act on Thursday, the market’s gains have since faded. Now, fresh inflation data is arriving with a potentially heavier hand, and analysts say it could further cool sentiment that traders had hoped would carry into stronger price action. The concern is not limited to Bitcoin: the same macro pressure could spill into Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL), where conditions often translate into sharper day-to-day moves. ‘Broadly Bearish’ For Bitcoin Market expert Alex Carchidi of The Motley Fool frames April’s inflation reading as particularly difficult to absorb. According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released on May 12, prices rose 3.8% year over year. A key driver was energy, which jumped 17.9% as costs climbed amid the US-Iran conflict. Related Reading: Bitcoin And XRP Climb On CLARITY Act News—But Clear Path To Law Isn’t Done Yet In Carchidi’s view, the inflation impulse is not just another routine print—it reflects real supply disruption. The analysis points specifically to the blocking of oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, an event that has helped push energy prices higher and, in turn, lifts overall inflation. The report also showed core inflation, which excludes food and energy, moving higher than many expected. Core CPI increased to 2.8% year over year, edging above forecast. Taken together, Carchidi describes the figures as broadly bearish for Bitcoin and the broader crypto sector, but he stresses that the effect will not be identical across major coins. Risk-On In The Spotlight Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana are all likely to face consequences, yet their market positioning relative to inflation and liquidity differs enough to matter. One major reason Bitcoin may be more resilient—at least in theory—is that crypto markets often respond to the cost and availability of capital. Carchidi notes that “crypto thrives on cheap capital.” However, with the macro backdrop changing, the expectation is that the “spigot” for liquidity could be tightening rather than widening. That brings the Federal Reserve into focus. The Fed has kept its benchmark interest rate steady at 3.5% to 3.75% across three consecutive meetings. Still, traders are watching for a shift in policy expectations, pricing in roughly a 30% probability of a rate hike by the end of the year. Carchidi says this matters more for Ethereum and Solana than for Bitcoin. His rationale is tied to how these assets are commonly perceived by the market. ETH and SOL, in the expert’s words, are typically treated as risk-on holdings, and they do not have an established “inflation hedge” story that investors can fall back on during periods of persistent inflation pressure. Bitcoin, by contrast, has long been positioned—by supporters—as a scarce asset that could act as an inflation hedge, which can provide a different kind of narrative support when traditional assets and macro assumptions shift. Near-Term Warning For Ethereum And Solana Cardichi suggests that if the energy shock eventually leads to broader monetary loosening, Bitcoin’s scarcity-based argument could become more compelling again over a multiyear horizon. Related Reading: Zcash (ZEC) Rockets 1,200%—Expert Says ZEC Could Soon Outgrow Cardano (ADA) Even then, he emphasizes that this is conditional—an “if, not a when”—and that the market would need data-driven confirmation for the renewed case to feel convincing. For Ethereum and Solana, the near-term picture is less optimistic in his conclusion. Their value, according to Carchidi, depends more on the networks gaining traction with users and attracting capital to their platforms. Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
U.S. PPI surged well above forecasts in April, reviving concerns that rising oil prices and Iran-related supply risks may feed another inflation wave.
Bitcoin was trading at $80,814 following the news, down 1.2% over the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin is heading into a rare macro window where the first reaction may age fast. The Federal Reserve is scheduled to conclude its April meeting on April 29, with the FOMC decision and press conference landing that afternoon. The next morning, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis is scheduled to release the first quarter GDP and […]
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Bitcoin is heading into one of the year's largest options expirations at the worst possible moment. CoinGlass data shows roughly $8.07 billion in notional open interest for Deribit's options expiring on April 24, split between 56,300 calls and 49,540 puts. While the ratio itself leans bullish, it's sitting against one of the most uncertain macro […]
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's call for the Fed to hold off on rate cuts reflects a problem that reaches far beyond Washington: war-driven inflation is keeping the door to cheaper money shut. Reuters reported that Bessent urged caution because the Iran conflict is lifting fuel costs and complicating the inflation outlook. The Fed's own March […]
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As oil shocks revive investor anxiety, stablecoins solved payments, but not purchasing power, says Michael Ashton, who's USDi token aims to fix that.
Headline inflation rose 0.9% last month, driven by the sharp rise in energy costs due to the Iran war.
Institutional money has been pouring into Bitcoin at a scale that would have seemed far-fetched just a few years ago. Since the launch of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, roughly $56 billion has flowed in from asset managers around the world — a shift that Bitmine CEO Tom Lee says is changing how serious investors think about protecting wealth. Related Reading: Ethereum Sets User Record As Price Lags Far Behind Network Growth Gold’s Track Record Under Scrutiny Speaking at the Futu Investment Exhibition, Lee made a pointed case against gold’s long-held reputation as the go-to inflation shield. Historical data, he said, shows gold has failed to keep pace with inflation about 48% of the time over the past 55 years. That’s a striking number for an asset millions of investors hold precisely because they believe it protects purchasing power. Gold prices have also taken a hit recently, dropping over 15% in the past week to trade around $4,493. Bitmine CEO：Bitcoin Beats Inflation 97% of the Time, Far Outperforming Gold Bitmine CEO Tom Lee stated the crypto winter is ending at the Futu Investment Exhibition. He believes Bitcoin is a better inflation hedge than gold, outperforming inflation 97% of the time since its… pic.twitter.com/H5LfaePnRe — Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) March 27, 2026 Bitcoin, by contrast, has outperformed inflation 97% of the time since its creation in 2009, according to Lee. He pointed to the asset’s hard cap of 21 million coins as a key reason why. Supply cannot be expanded. No central bank can print more of it. That fixed ceiling, combined with rising demand from institutions, is what Lee says makes Bitcoin a stronger modern hedge than gold. “Many investors hold large amounts of gold for protection, but may be missing exposure to Bitcoin,” Lee said. Wall Street’s Growing Appetite The ETF numbers back up at least part of that argument. Billions of dollars have moved into Bitcoin-focused funds as major asset managers add the cryptocurrency to client portfolios. Reports indicate this trend has pushed Bitcoin further from its early reputation as a speculative bet and closer toward a mainstream financial instrument — the kind typically compared to commodities like gold or oil. Bitcoin was trading near $66,000 at the time of Lee’s remarks, though the price had slipped about 3.35% in the preceding 24 hours. Ethereum Gets A Mention Lee’s presentation didn’t stop at Bitcoin. He also flagged Ethereum as a potential infrastructure layer for Wall Street’s future, saying the blockchain could be used for tokenization, settlement, and broader financial operations. Related Reading: XRP Futures Market Keeps Resetting As Whales Accumulate Amid Mixed Signals Reports note that Lee sees growing connections between crypto networks and traditional finance — particularly as institutions look for faster, programmable ways to move and settle assets. Whether that vision plays out remains to be seen. But the flow of institutional capital into Bitcoin ETFs suggests that at least part of Wall Street is no longer treating crypto as an afterthought. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
Even the safest corners of the market can start to look uneasy when oil jumps, war drags on, and investors begin to wonder whether inflation is heading back in the wrong direction. That was the message we got from Tuesday’s sale of 2-year US Treasuries. These are short-term government bonds, and they're widely watched because […]
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US business activity slowed in March, and the new PMI data delivered a warning that markets are starting to price in: growth is losing momentum just as price pressures pick up again. That creates a pretty tough backdrop for Bitcoin to trade in. When the economy cools while inflation stays elevated, traders expect the Federal […]
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February’s CPI report gave markets a reason to relax. Inflation looked soft enough to keep hopes for rate cuts alive, with consumer prices up 0.3% on the month and 2.4% from a year earlier, while core CPI rose 0.2% in the month and 2.5% annually. Shelter kept cooling, and the overall picture looked manageable for […]
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Bitcoin's next major move could depend more on oil prices, yields, and Federal Reserve policy than crypto-specific catalysts, per analysts.
When crude starts leading the headlines, crypto people tend to ask the wrong questions, like what it is that oil actually does to Bitcoin. While it's the simplest and easiest way to explain what you don't know, it's a pretty bad question. A better one is what oil actually does to the cost of money, […]
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Out of a fixed maximum supply of 21 million coins, more than 95% of all bitcoin that will ever exist is now in circulation.
Bitcoin has continued to trade defensively near the mid-$60,000s as traders balance rising Iran-related war risk and interest-rate pressures.
Bitcoin has lost nearly 30% of its value since January. Yet Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is making the case that it remains one of the most powerful tools ordinary people have to fight rising prices. That gap between the pitch and the reality is hard to ignore. Related Reading: Bullish Signal? Coinbase Bitcoin Premium Turns Positive After Months In Red Armstrong laid out his argument in a post on X, and later repeated it at the World Liberty Forum, an event hosted by the family of US President Donald Trump. The logic is straightforward: inflation quietly destroys the purchasing power of cash. Wealthier people protect themselves by moving money into stocks, real estate, and Bitcoin. People without access to those same options get hit hardest and have no way out. Inflation is a regressive tax on the poorest people in society, since they only hold cash. Once people have wealth, they can afford and get access to inflation-resistant asset classes (stocks, bitcoin, real estate, etc). Expanding financial access and opportunities globally to… — Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) February 23, 2026 A Fair Point, Pushed Too Far? It is a legitimate observation. Economists have made similar arguments for years — that inflation acts like a hidden tax on those with the least. Armstrong is not wrong about the problem. The prescription, though, is harder to defend. Bitcoin does not move like a slow, grinding inflation rate. It can drop 20% in a single week. For someone with no financial cushion, that is not protection. That is exposure to a different kind of loss — one that can happen far faster than any inflation rate ever could. The volatility is not a minor detail. It is the central flaw in the argument. The Law That Could Shift Things The more grounded part of Armstrong’s message involves legislation. The CLARITY Act, currently being debated in Congress, aims to define how digital assets are regulated in the US — which agencies hold authority and under what conditions. US Senator Bernie Moreno said lawmakers are pushing to pass the bill by April. Armstrong, speaking at the forum, called a balanced version of the bill a potential win for crypto firms, banks, and consumers alike. Talks have focused on stablecoins and whether they can offer competitive yields without running into existing banking rules. Related Reading: Crypto Funds Bleed $4 Billion As Investors Step Back – Here’s Why Keeping Pace With China Armstrong also raised the stakes internationally. China is advancing a government-backed digital currency that pays interest. His message to US regulators was direct: fall behind on stablecoin policy, and America loses ground in a competition it should be leading. It is a real concern — even if his inflation argument leaves something to be desired. Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView
Bitcoin is trading like a rates product now because real yields are the new “gravity” Earlier this month, we saw the macro picture shift in a very real and tangible way. The record of last year's job level changed significantly, and markets treated that update as fresh information to trade on. Two days later, inflation […]
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Bitcoin trades near $69,000 despite growing whale accumulation as crypto searches for a catalyst amid outflows and fragile market structure.
Despite the price recovery, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index remains in “extreme fear,” indicating underlying market anxiety.