Cryptocurrency continued to captivate investors around the world as the price of Bitcoin surged to its highest level since June. On Monday, Bitcoin prices topped off at a whopping $29,300 due to a sudden rise in investor optimism. Although no direct reason could be linked to this move, it is believed to be partly because of traders being put off by a New York Times article raising concerns over Bitcoin’s energy consumption. It could also be because, with the Federal Home Loan Bank debt issuance easing, it indicated a lesser banking crisis.

Not only Bitcoin, Ether (ETH), another prominent cryptocurrency, rose to around $1,900 before fading away. Other major cryptos, such as ARB and XRP also went up. The CoinDesk Market Index also saw an encouraging increase of 2.3%.

Wall Street had a decent day with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining a small amount, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite having only a shallow decline of 0.03%. Bitcoin enthusiasts were in for a treat as crypto-related stocks such as Coinbase (COIN) and MicroStrategy (MSTR) marked major highs with a 7.5% increase.

The March Consumer Price Index report also indicates a slowdown in inflation and US central bankers could reduce annual interest rate hikes. This seems to come in-line with the general sentiment that Bitcoin is a reliable store of value, and an asset to fall back on during a time of crisis.

The current rise in the price of Bitcoin might be a retest of the range that was found following the movement beyond $20,000 in January 2021. Since then, it has established a lesser correlation to the equity markets and decided to take a rather risk-off strategy.

The sustainability of this disruption is uncertain, and Bitcoin will likely face resistance at $30,000. If this doesn’t hold well, then Bitcoin can may fall to the $25,000 or $23,000 ranges. The market’s response to the first wave of quarterly earnings from banking companies such as JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup will also be carefully monitored.



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