Investing.com– Bitcoin climbed on Thursday, extending an overnight rebound as risk appetite was boosted by in-line U.S. consumer inflation data, which kept investors largely betting on a December interest rate cut.
The climb was supported by President-elect Donald Trump’s comments to CNBC on Thursday during his visit to the NYSE. He said the U.S. will become the global leader for cryptocurrency in his upcoming term.
“We’re gonna do something great with crypto because we don’t want China, or anybody else … but others are embracing it, and we want to be ahead,” Trump said.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency had now recouped all of its losses made over the past week, while also appearing to have broken out of a $90,000 to $100,000 trading range seen in recent weeks.
Bitcoin rose 2.01% to $102,456.0 by 11:17 AM ET (16:17 GMT).
Broader crypto prices also advanced tracking Bitcoin, although most altcoins clocked much stronger gains as risk appetite increased. The prospect of friendlier U.S. crypto regulations under a Donald Trump presidency also kept most major cryptos sitting on strong gains through the past week.
CPI data cements Dec rate cut bets
Investors were seen ramping up their bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 25 basis points next week, after consumer price index inflation data read in line with expectations.
The reading still showed inflation remained sticky, raising doubts over the long term trajectory of rates.
But the prospect of lower near-term rates boosted risk appetite, with Wall Street indexes also rallying to record highs in overnight trade.
Lower rates bode well for speculative assets such as crypto.
Trump considering a16z crypto policy head for CFTC top role
President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly leaning toward Brian Quintenz, a former commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as his choice to lead the agency.
Quintenz, who currently heads policy for the crypto division at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, is seen as a leading candidate for the role, according to Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The final decision is expected soon, with an announcement anticipated in the coming days after the interview process for the chair position concludes.
Other contenders reportedly include current CFTC Commissioners Summer Mersinger and Caroline Pham, along with legal experts Joshua Sterling and Neal Kumar.
Microsoft shareholders vote against Bitcoin investment proposal
Technology giant Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) shareholders voted against a proposal for the company to consider adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet this week.
The proposal was put forward by a think tank- the National Center for Public Policy Research- and called on the tech giant to consider investing in Bitcoin, arguing that it was a dependable inflation hedge.
But shareholders rejected the proposal, with Microsoft’s board also having recommended against its approval. The company has signaled in the past that while it does consider crypto as an investment, it prefers less volatile assets.
Comments from MSTR CEO Michael Saylor, for Microsoft to adopt Bitcoin- also did little to convince shareholders. Saylor’s strategy of investing in the cryptocurrency saw Microstrategy’s stock surge 450% this year, as investors treated the company as a proxy for crypto.
Crypto price today: Altcoins rebound with Bitcoin
Broader crypto prices largely rallied in tandem with Bitcoin, recouping all of their losses over the past week.
World no.2 crypto Ether rose 4.89% to $3,973.37, while XRP rose nearly 1.18% to $2.43.
Cardano, Solana and Polygon surged between 1% and 4%, while among meme tokens, Dogecoin added 0.79%.
Ambar Warrick contributed to this report.
