- Bitcoin struggles to hold above $28,000 while DOGE spikes over 35% after Elon Musk’s Twitter replaces the bird icon with the Shiba Inu.
- The recent injection of new money into the economy by the US Federal Reserve to address the banking crisis has helped boost investor liquidity for certain stocks and cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin had a seesawing day in the cryptocurrency markets, with the largest digital asset by market capitalization struggling to decide if it liked the air above $28,000 or below. BTC was recently trading at about $27,680, down slightly more than a percentage point over the past 24 hours.
Amid unverified rumors and soaring DOGE, BTC investors were left to make sense of disparate and sometimes unflattering but always interesting information. BTC spent Monday’s first few hours lingering below $28,000 before rising above the threshold through much of the midday and then tumbling again.
Despite a near banking meltdown that engulfed two crypto-friendly banks, BTC has clung tenaciously to handholds around this level since mid-March, amid generally more favorable conditions for digital assets. Glen Goodman, a crypto trader and author, told CoinDesk TV’s “First Mover” program that “the current situation for bitcoin is pretty positive, that’s the reality on the ground.”
Goodman noted that the “injection of new money into the economy” as a backstop by a “panicking” Federal Reserve to address the banking crisis boosted investor liquidity for certain stocks and cryptos. “People are feeling brave enough now with this new liquidity to get back into what they consider big, profitable companies like Microsoft, like Apple, and likewise, in the crypto market, they’re going for what are considered the safer cryptos, which are bitcoin and Ethereum.”
Ethereum was recently trading just over $1,800, up slightly from a day earlier after seesawing above and below this level. Other major cryptos were mixed, with some slightly in the green and others in the red.
DOGE, the popular meme coin, was an exception to the more modest price shifts, rising more than 35% to top 10 cents for the first time since December. This followed Elon Musk’s Twitter replacing the social-media platform’s familiar blue bird atop its homepage with the cryptocurrency’s iconic Shiba Inu dog logo. DOGE was recently up 25%.
Musk has been an outspoken DOGE advocate, suggesting the meme coin may offer better payments functionality than bitcoin. However, some have criticized Musk for his influence on the crypto market, which can cause significant price volatility based on his tweets.
Meanwhile, crypto markets were mulling an unverified rumor that an Interpol Red Notice had been issued for the cryptocurrency exchange’s founder and CEO, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action, according to the Interpol website. Neither Binance nor Interpol responded to a CoinDesk request for comment, although The Block reported that the exchange had denied the rumor in an email to the publication. Binance’s BNB token was recently down 0.3%.
The crypto markets are known for their volatility, and today’s seesawing day for BTC was no exception. However, the overall trend seems to be positive, with investors feeling more confident about the market as new money enters the economy. Whether this confidence will continue remains to be seen, but it is clear that the crypto market is always ripe for surprises and unpredictable events.