Bitcoin Pokes Above $71,000, Flirts With Fifth Straight Session of Gains

The largest digital asset's run of daily increases is the longest in three months, leaving the original cryptocurrency at $70,977 as of 5 a.m. Wednesday in London

Bitcoin rose above the $71,000 level and headed for a gain over five straight sessions as optimism in global markets pointed to growing conviction over the prospect of Federal Reserve interest-rate reductions this year.

The largest digital asset added around 0.7% to trade at $70,977 by 5 a.m. Wednesday in London, according to pricing from Bitstamp. Among top-five coins, BNB rose and tokens beloved by the meme crowd, such as dogwifhat, were up.

Top-five coin BNB climbed to around $702, above the previous all-time peak of nearly $691 from 2021, CoinMarketCap data showed. The token derives from the ecosystem around Binance, the biggest crypto exchange, and is often seen as a barometer of sentiment toward the company.

BNB’s more than 100% rally this year indicates perceptions about Binance’s outlook have improved since November, when the exchange pleaded guilty to violations of US anti-money-laundering and sanctions laws and was hit with a landmark $4.3 billion penalty.

Bitcoin in recent days has struggled to hold climbs above $70,000 but optimists are also drawing succor from a stretch of inflows into dedicated US exchange-traded funds as well as moves in Washington toward a crypto regulatory framework.

Traders are pricing in a bigger chance of a Fed rate cut as soon soon as November in the wake of data signaling moderating US inflation and a softer jobs market. Some Treasury yields registered their largest two-day drops of the year, a loosening in financial conditions that may help speculative assets like crypto.

“Crypto assets are responding positively to the decline in rates,” Tom Couture, digital-asset strategy vice president at Fundstrat Global Advisors, said in a note.

In Japan, crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin said it plans to raise 50 billion yen ($321 million) and plow the funds into buying the token to make customers whole after suffering a major hack. The platform said it will “take care” to avoid affecting the Bitcoin market with the planned purchases.

A short-term, 30-day correlation between between Bitcoin and the Nasdaq 100 Index of US technology stocks is around the highest since early 2023, suggesting that further gains in the equity gauge may be accompanied by a move higher in the crypto market leader.

Michael Novogratz, the billionaire founder and chief executive officer of Galaxy Digital, said on Bloomberg Television that a more positive US political environment for digital assets will likely help propel Bitcoin to a record $100,000 or even higher by the end the year.

Such sentiment is an indication of how memories of the bleak digital-asset bear market in 2022 and ensuing scandals, including the fraud that undid the giant FTX crypto exchange, have faded — at least for now.