First Mover Americas: Bitcoin Traders Await Fed's Decision

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Bitcoin continued to hover at around $28,000, up slightly on Wednesday, although some traders see the price going up to $30,000 or falling to $25,000 on positive or negative momentum depending on what the Federal Reserve announces about interest rates. Analysts expect the Fed to raise rates by a quarter-point. according to the CME FedWatch tool. Edward Moya, senior analyst at foreign-exchange trading firm Oanda, said momentum flows could support a 5% move in either direction. “If the Fed doesn’t spark a rally, bitcoin could settle closer to the $25,000 region.” Mike McGlone, senior commodity strategist at Bloomberg, said that there could be a “super-cycle” happening in crypto. “Bitcoin beating gold, the top-performing old-guard commodity in 2023 to March 20, by almost 10x may be indicative of a super cycle happening,” he tweeted.

The White House took aim at cryptocurrencies in a new report, arguing that many aspects of the digital-asset ecosystem are creating issues for consumers, the financial system and the environment. The Economic Report of the President, published on Monday, is an annual publication by the Council of Economic Advisers aimed at explaining the president's economic priorities and policies. The March issue included an entire chapter on digital assets and "economic principles." The report comes amid growing industry concern that federal regulators are looking to cut off crypto companies from banking services, though state and federal regulators have thus far denied those claims. Still, the tone of the report is unlikely to assuage crypto investors.

Growth investor Cathie Wood's Ark Invest sold 160,887 shares of crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) worth $13.5 million on Tuesday. During the crypto winter, Ark made a series of purchases of Coinbase's stock. The shares fell 86% last year, underperforming both bitcoin and ether. Earlier in March, Ark purchased more than 350,000 Coinbase’s shares worth $22 million.