Investing.com– Bitcoin fell marginally on Friday as a recent rally past key levels cooled, with traders remaining largely risk-averse before a Federal Reserve rate decision due next week.
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency rose sharply on Thursday after President-elect Donald Trump reiterated his pledge to make the U.S. a global crypto leader. But this bounce was short-lived, given that he did not provide any major cues on policy.
fell 0.5% to $100,340.0 by 08:57 ET (14:57 GMT).
Fed anticipation boosts dollar, pressures crypto
Focus was now squarely on the Fed’s rate decision next week, where the central bank is widely expected to .
But markets turned uncertain over the Fed’s long-term outlook on rates, especially as producer inflation data for November read higher than expected, while consumer inflation remained sticky.
The firmed on this notion, pressuring risk-driven assets across the board. Traders were now awaiting the Fed’s outlook on rates, and are bracing for a slower pace of easing in 2025.
High rates limit the appeal of speculative assets such as crypto.
Bitcoin, Ether spot ETFs see sustained inflows
Recent crypto market data showed spot exchange-traded funds tracking Bitcoin and Ether saw sustained inflows through early December, amid sustained optimism over friendlier regulations under Trump.
Bitcoin ETFs saw an eleventh consecutive day of inflows as of December 12, with Blackrock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ:) commanding the biggest share of inflows.
Spot Ether ETFs marked 14 straight days of inflows, with Blackrock (NYSE:) and Grayscale ETFs seeing the most inflows.
ETF inflows signal increased institutional interest in crypto, given that they offer investors a safer way to gain crypto exposure. The launch of spot ETFs in U.S. markets earlier this year was viewed as largely positive for crypto, with inflows picking up rapidly after Trump’s election victory in early-November.
Crypto price today: altcoins track Bitcoin losses, Chainlink at 3-year high
Most major altcoins rescinded some of their gains made this week in tandem with Bitcoin. But they had also largely outpaced Bitcoin in recent weeks, as markets bet that friendly U.S. regulations will allow cryptos beyond Bitcoin to flourish.
fell 0.3% to $3,929.05, while fell 1% to $2.39.
, and fell between 2% and 4%, while among meme tokens, fell 1.3%.
Meanwhile, climbed more than 2% on the day, extending its sharp gains from a day earlier.
LINK surged more than 20% Thursday after World Liberty Financial, a platform backed by Donald Trump, expanded its investment in Chainlink’s token. The organization purchased an additional $1 million worth of LINK on the day, marking its second consecutive day of acquisitions and bringing its total LINK holdings to $2 million.
The token was trading at $28.3 apiece, representing levels not seen since late 2021.
The platform also acquired $246,000 worth of Aave’s token, increasing its total AAVE holdings to $1.2 million.
LINK now ranks as World Liberty Financial’s fourth-largest holding, trailing ether, bitcoin, and tether.
Supported by the Trump family, World Liberty Financial offers a comprehensive platform for borrowing and lending cryptocurrencies, creating liquidity pools, and conducting stablecoin transactions.
Ambar Warrick contributed to this report.
