Crypto Market Update: Bitcoin Surges Amid Tech Stock Rally
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Latest Prices
| Asset | Price | 24h Change |
|---|---|---|
| CoinDesk 20 Index | $1,831.41 | +2.21% |
| Bitcoin (BTC) | $58,088.29 | +2.45% |
| Ether (ETH) | $2,345.28 | +0.99% |
| S&P 500 | 5,554.13 | +1.07% |
| Gold | $2,515.67 | +0.11% |
| Nikkei 225 | 36,833.27 | +3.41% |
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Bitcoin has recently surged to above $58,000, driven by a rally in U.S. technology stocks. Investors responded positively to U.S. inflation data released on Wednesday, which reinforced expectations of a potential 25 basis-point interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve this month. This economic environment has led to gains for major tech companies, including Nvidia, Microsoft, Google, and Apple. Currently, Bitcoin is priced just above $58,000, representing a 2.4% increase in the last 24 hours. The broader cryptocurrency market has similarly experienced a rise of approximately 2.2%, as reflected by the CoinDesk 20 Index. However, it is worth noting that Bitcoin ETFs experienced outflows of $43 million on Wednesday, halting a brief streak of inflows that had persisted for just two days.
Additionally, leverage in the Bitcoin market is on the rise again, indicating a growing appetite for risk among traders. The estimated leverage ratio, calculated by dividing global futures open interest by the number of coins held on exchanges, increased to 0.2060—marking the highest level since October 2023, according to data from CryptoQuant. This uptick follows a prolonged period of consolidation below the 0.2 threshold, suggesting a more cautious trading approach. The increase in leverage may introduce greater volatility into the market, as high-leverage liquidity is currently concentrated around the $58,500 mark. This suggests that as Bitcoin approaches this level, volatility could significantly increase, particularly given the low overall market liquidity. In such an environment, any substantial buy or sell order could have a pronounced impact on market prices.
In another noteworthy development, the DeFi platform Pendle has launched new pools offering variable yields of up to 45% on a Bitcoin-backed token, enhancing the product’s appeal. This innovative offering allows users to deposit LBTC, a liquid-staking token created by the restaking startup Lombard, into a Pendle pool associated with the Ethereum layer-2 network named Corn. Since its launch, the pool has attracted over $13 million in user deposits, demonstrating strong demand for high-yield opportunities in the DeFi space. The product offers users the flexibility of earning fixed yields of an annualized 10% as well. The structure of this offering aims to make it easier for users to engage with decentralized finance, while also capturing yield from their Bitcoin holdings. Lombard’s service converts wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) into Lombard Bitcoin (LBTC), facilitating its use in various DeFi applications. Corn operates on the premise of using Bitcoin as the primary token for transaction fees, thereby integrating Bitcoin more deeply into the DeFi ecosystem.
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