Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Slump After Inflation Report —What If Feds Decide To No Longer Hodl Their Stash?

Bitcoin was volatile Thursday night after the U.S. Labor Department reported inflation rising at the fastest clip since 1982. The global cryptocurrency market cap decreased 4.6% to $2 trillion at press time. 

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See Also: How To Buy Bitcoin (BTC)

Why It Matters: Headline Consumer Price Index rose 7.5% in January — exceeding economist expectations of 7.2% growth; this is the steepest rise in inflation since February 1982. 

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yields touched the 2% mark for the first time ever since August 2019 after the inflation numbers were reported. The rise in yield came along with heightened expectations that the Federal Reserve will take steps to combat inflation, according to a Reuters report. 

“Bitcoin prices are holding up nicely given the surge in global bond yields.  Bitcoin’s best environment going forward is risk appetite and that might prove to be difficult until we get past the first couple of rate hikes by the Fed,” said Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at OANDA. 

Moya said that Bitcoin institutional investors are focused on Treasuries as the momentum trade “appears to be rather straightforward.” He sees the apex coin consolidating between the $40,000 to $50,000 level in the short term. 

All Stablecoins Exchange Reserve hit an all-time high by $27.2 billion, according to a tweet from CryptoQuant. An increase in the value in reserve indicates higher selling pressure. 

All Stablecoins Exchanges' Reserve hits an all-time-high by $27.2B

Live Charthttps://t.co/hHmjTRa7ws pic.twitter.com/x30ZKUo4uz

— CryptoQuant.com (@cryptoquant_com) February 10, 2022

Amsterdam-based cryptocurrency trader Michaël van de Poppe said Thursday was a very volatile day for Bitcoin with moves in excess of 5% intraday. He urged caution until a key level was broken.

“Nothing clear until we crack $46K and/or this block. If we do reclaim that level, the party goes on,” said the analyst in a tweet. 

Very volatile day for #Bitcoin as we've seen 5%+ moves within the day itself.

I'm still seeing the same chart, higher timeframes.

Nothing clear until we crack $46K and/or this block. If we do reclaim that level, the party goes on.

Until then -> caution. pic.twitter.com/ctwXabyZfX

— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) February 10, 2022

Twitter account Negentropic, belonging to the co-founders of blockchain intelligence provider Glassnode, noted that the U.S. government is the third-largest holder of Bitcoin. 

“If the US decides to sell, big players will get a huge opportunity to buy in bulk,” said Negentropic.

The US Government sits behind MicroStrategy and Grayscale in #Bitcoin holdings, owning more than $TSLA. If the US decides to sell, big players will get a huge opportunity to buy in bulk. pic.twitter.com/RYGvsFBOHm

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