Can Bitcoin beat the Fed? BTC price increases despite bearish news
The Fed's interest hike rate comments have had a devastating effect on the stock market, with many expecting the crypto market to follow suit.
- Many blue chip stocks have taken a major beating over the past week, with some offerings dipping by as much as 20%.
- NY-based Flushing Bank – that currently has Assets Under Management (AUM) worth US$8 billion – is now providing its clients with a range of BTC-related services.
- Bitcoin's dominance index (DI) has continued to hover over 40% over the past fortnight.
Volatility continues to be the name of the game for the crypto market, with Bitcoin – the world's largest cryptocurrency by total market capitalisation – continuing to be faced with insane price swings. Over the last 24 hours, BTC's value has risen by over 4% after having dipped to a relative low of AUD$50,500 (US$35,500) prior. At press time, the flagship cryptocurrency is trading at a price point of AUD$53,121.
Furthermore, on 27 January, Bitcoin proceeded to rise as high as AUD$55,500 (US$39,000) suggesting a general trend reversal. However, derivatives data suggests that bears are still firmly in control of the crypto market, especially ahead of January's upcoming AUD$3.27 billion (US$2.3 billion) monthly options expiry. The recent sell-offs have been compounded by the fact that the US Federal Reserve recently announced that it is looking to raise its interest rates come March.
In the wake of this development, the crypto as well as stock market proceeded to experience immediate repercussions. For example, many premier stocks (referred to as blue chips) such as Invesco China Technology ETF (CQQQ) proceeded to dip substantially, slipping by nearly 20% earlier this week, a sight that is not commonly witnessed within the stock sector.
Providing his thoughts on the matter, US Congress member Patrick McHenry opined that one of the core reasons why the crypto market is being faced with such a tremendous amount of day-to-day turbulence has been due to the fact that the government has failed to take any sort of concrete action in terms of creating a holistic regulatory environment for its thriving digital asset sector.
Major US bank now offering Bitcoin-centric services
Independent of how the market has been behaving over the last couple of months, crypto adoption seems to be rolling ahead as usual, with Flushing Financial Corporation, the parent firm behind the US$8 billion dollar worth NY-based Flushing Bank, revealing that it has joined hands with New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) in order to provide its clients with a wide range of Bitcoin-related services (including buying, selling and holding).
The bank is keen on expanding its suite of crypto-related offerings in the near-to-mid term, but its roadmap regarding the same remains unclear. However, John Buran, CEO of Flushing Financial Corporation, noted that the firm's decision to adopt BTC was largely driven by its desire to stay abreast with the rapidly evolving trends of the market, adding:
"As part of our ongoing digital transformation, we recognise the importance of staying current with emerging market trends and consumer demand for alternate financial services."
Interested in cryptocurrency? Learn more about the basics with our beginner's guide to Bitcoin, dive deeper by learning about Ethereum and see what blockchain can do with our simple guide to DeFi.
Disclosure: The author owns a range of cryptocurrencies at the time of writing.
