Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were rising early Wednesday, recouping some losses from the previous day’s selloff. Bitcoin BTCUSD 1.25% was up 0.2% over the past 24 hours to $65,505. The largest crypto hit a record high near $74,000 in mid-March amid a surge of interest from new spot exchange-traded funds but its price has dropped since then.
“BTC Spot ETFs experienced net outflows last week, breaking a streak of four weeks and 19 trading days of consecutive inflows. The cumulative outflow for the week was about $580 million, reducing the total net inflow since inception to $15.1 billion,” said Matteo Greco, a research analyst at Fineqia International.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen continued outflows of close to $300 million so far this week, according to crypto data firm Coinglass. Cryptocurrencies, like other risk assets, have been held back by relatively high bond yields as the market scales back expectations for interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
“The recent price drop was also influenced by high selling volumes from miners. Mining activity has been impacted by the recent Bitcoin halving, which reduced block rewards…This event forces miners to optimize their capital efficiency to maintain profitability,” said Greco.
The price of Bitcoin has largely drifted since the April 19 halving, when the cryptocurrency’s programmatic monetary policy changed and the issuance of new tokens was cut in half, restricting supply.
Ether ETHUSD 1.02% the second-largest crypto—was up 3.6% at $3,561 and is up 14% over the past month.
