Bitcoin rallied to a new all-time high on Monday as investors awaited an expected interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve later this week.
TakeAway Points:
- Bitcoin rallied to a new all-time high Monday as investors awaited an expected interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve later this week.
- Investors are expecting the Fed to lower interest rates this week during its two-day policy meeting, which will conclude Wednesday.
- The federal government recently revealed a massive hacking campaign called Salt Typhoon that compromised the nation’s largest telecommunications companies, including AT&T and Verizon, and which agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, say was orchestrated by China.
Bitcoin hits new high price
The price of the flagship cryptocurrency was last higher by nearly 3% at $106,126.74, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier it rose as high as $107,229.38, a new record. Ether rose 3% to break through the key $4,000 level. The broader crypto market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 index, traded more than 1% higher.
Crypto stocks gave back earlier gains. Coinbase rose more than 1%. Shares of bitcoin proxy MicroStrategy fell below the flat line after jumping as much as 7%, following the Friday evening announcement that MicroStrategy will join the Nasdaq-100 stock index and heavily traded QQQ ETF later this month.
MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor also announced that the company bought an additional 15,350 BTC, bringing its total holdings to 439,000 worth about $46 billion.
Investors are expecting the Fed to lower interest rates this week during its two-day policy meeting, which will conclude Wednesday. The CME FedWatch Tool currently forecasts a 96% chance of a 25-basis-point cut. That would likely be positive for the price of bitcoin, which often trades like a tech stock and therefore benefits from lower interest rates.
Lower interest rates also imply a weakening dollar and growing money supply, both of which have demonstrated long-term correlations with bitcoin.
Bitcoin is now up 9% for the month, 52% since the U.S. presidential election and 149% for the year. The promise of a friendlier regulatory environment and potential establishment of a national strategic bitcoin reserve in the incoming Trump administration continues to be a positive catalyst for the digital asset and cryptocurrencies at large.
US government supports end-to-end encrypted messaging
Meanwhile, last month, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed a campaign by hackers associated with China, Salt Typhoon, that compromised AT&T and Verizon, and others, and was one of the largest hacks of U.S. infrastructure in history. Following that warning, CISA, the National Security Agency, the FBI and international partners published a joint guide to help protect Americans. One suggestion is to use end-to-end encryption, a method that makes communications more secure.
End-to-end encryption helps ensure that only the intended recipients can read your messages as they travel between your phone and another person’s phone. Secure messaging apps use end-to-end encryption to protect communications from hackers, surveillance and unauthorized access, so even messaging app providers can’t read your messages.
“All things being equal, if you have the opportunity to use a platform that’s end-to-end encrypted, you should,” said Michael Hughes, chief business officer of Duality Technologies, which allows organizations to share and analyze sensitive data using encryption.
