Street Calls of the Week
Investing.com-- Bitcoin steadied on Friday after hitting record highs above $124,000 in the previous session as hotter-than-expected U.S. producer inflation dented hopes for aggressive Federal Reserve easing next month.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency last traded 0.2% higher at $118,630 as of 09:29 ET (13:29 GMT).
It jumped to a record high of $124,436.8 in the previous session but retreated sharply after the release of PPI data.
World no.2 crypto Ether also steadied after flirting with record high levels.
Investors recalibrate Fed cut bets after strong PPI data
U.S. producer prices rose 0.9% month-on-month in July, the largest gain since June 2022 and far above economists’ expectations for a 0.2% increase, according to Labor Department data released on Thursday.
The upside surprise revived inflation worries and tempered the prospect of a larger rate cut from the Federal Reserve in September.
Money markets pared back bets on a 50-basis-point cut in September and shifted toward a quarter-point move, with traders assigning around a 90% probability to 25 bps after the PPI print.
The recalibration helped nudge the dollar higher and weighed on risk assets, including cryptocurrencies.
Crypto markets had rallied this week, helped by a soft consumer inflation report and renewed institutional participation and momentum from recent policy developments that investors see as supportive for digital assets.
Trump family crypto firm hunts Asia targets for bitcoin treasury – FT
American Bitcoin, a U.S. cryptocurrency miner backed by Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, is seeking acquisitions in Asia to build bitcoin reserves, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The company aims to buy a listed firm in Japan and potentially Hong Kong to hoard crypto, mirroring Michael Saylor’s Strategy model, the report said.
American Bitcoin, set to go public in September via a reverse merger with Gryphon Digital Mining, said it is exploring “accretive opportunities” overseas but has made no binding commitments, according to the FT.
Circle to sell 10 million shares at over four times IPO price
Circle Internet Group Inc (NYSE:CRCL) said it will sell 10 million shares in a secondary offering priced at $130 each, more than quadruple its June IPO price.
The USDC stablecoin issuer will offer 2 million Class A common shares itself, while existing investors will sell the remaining 8 million, according to a Tuesday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Circle plans to use proceeds from its portion of the sale for general corporate purposes and will not benefit from shares sold by existing holders.
Crypto price today: altcoins muted as rally slows
Most altcoins also saw muted price performance on Friday after sharp gains earlier this week.
World no.2 crypto Ethereum was up 1.5% to $4,613.64, after jumping near record high levels in the previous session.
World no. 3 crypto XRP traded flat at $3.11.
Solana was also little changed, while Cardano added 2.5%, and Polygon lost 0.1%.
Among meme tokens, Dogecoin rose 1.5%, while $TRUMP gained 1.2%.
(Additional reporting by Vahid Karaahmetovic.)