Bitcoin price today: rises to $66.5k amid risk-on mood, China stimulus
Bitcoin price hit a two-month high in early Friday trading, coming close to $67,000. The crypto asset later lost some of those gains, trading at $66,467.0 as of 11:18 ET (15:18 GMT), up 3% in the past 24 hours.
The original cryptocurrency is back to levels not seen since July, boosted by a stock market rally fueled by upbeat U.S. labor market data and economic stimulus moves from China.
The more immediate boost came from China, where authorities are reportedly considering injecting up to 1 trillion yuan into the country's largest state banks to help revive the struggling economy.
Risk-correlated assets, including crypto and equity markets, gained momentum after China announced plans for further economic stimulus, and U.S. jobless claims fell by 4,000 to a four-month low of 218,000.
Moreover, China's Politburo committed to ramping up fiscal spending and implementing "forceful" interest rate cuts to boost the economy.
Bitcoin 's rally started last week after the U.S. Federal Reserve made its first interest rate cut since the Covid pandemic, reducing rates by 50 basis points instead of the expected 25. Traders are now betting on another cut at the Fed's upcoming meeting on Nov. 7, with many expecting another 50 basis point reduction, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
As Bitcoin's price climbs, U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds saw total daily net inflows of $365.57 million on Thursday, the largest since late July. Leading the surge was Ark Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB , which attracted $113.82 million in inflows, followed by BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ:IBIT ), the largest spot bitcoin ETF by net assets, with $93.38 million.
Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (NYSE:FBTC ) also recorded $74 million in inflows, reversing weeks of flat or negative flows as Bitcoin's price had been struggling.
Elsewhere, risk appetite made a comeback after months of caution, with dog-themed meme coins leading the charge in the broader crypto market. Even lesser-known dog-themed tokens built on the less popular Bitcoin Runes protocol saw gains, signaling that investors are becoming more willing to take riskier bets. Binance founder Chanpeng 'CZ' Zhao may be released Friday
In other crypto-related news, Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao may be released on Friday, two days ahead of his scheduled release date of September 29, CoinDesk reported, citing an interpretation of the law.
"The Bureau of Prisons may release an inmate whose release date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, on the last preceding weekday unless it is necessary to detain the inmate for another jurisdiction seeking custody under a detainer, or for any other reason which might indicate that the inmate should not be released until the inmate's scheduled release date," The U.S. Department of Justice's Federal Bureau of Prisons rule states.
The final decision may rest on the Warden's discretionary authority.
CZ was sentenced to four months in prison in April after pleading guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by not implementing an adequate know-your-customer (KYC) program at Binance.
Source: Investing.com
