Bitcoin Pulls Back as Record Rally Triggers Profit Taking
The cryptocurrency declined as much 3.2%, the most in more than three weeks, and was trading at $117,386 at 12:40 p.m. in Singapore on Tuesday. Second-ranked Ether was down 1.4% and other smaller coins including XRP, Solana also dropped nearly 2% each.
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Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bitcoin Soars Past $124k, a New All-Time High. 4 Tailwinds Behind the Momentum.
Key Points Bitcoin just hit a new all-time high. It's probably going to keep climbing. There are four trends that make higher prices quite likely from here. 10 stocks we like better than Bitcoin › Markets reward scarcity, and today the world's biggest cryptocurrency just reminded everyone why that principle still rules. On Aug. 13, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) traded above $124,000, surpassing its prior record. Four tailwinds are driving this move, and they're all going to stay in play for a while, so let's examine each and understand them. 1. Post-halving scarcity is biting Bitcoin's fourth halving in April 2024 cut the mining reward to 3.125 coins per block, reducing net new issuance to roughly 450 bitcoins per day. That means less fresh supply is meeting the market. And, fortunately for holders, the supply crunch is taking root just as buyers are looking to make large purchases. Invest in Gold American Hartford Gold: #1 Precious Metals Dealer in the Nation Priority Gold: Up to $15k in Free Silver + Zero Account Fees on Qualifying Purchase Thor Metals Group: Best Overall Gold IRA In particular, U.S. spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which hold the coin on behalf of their shareholders, have become persistent buyers. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF showed nearly $89 billion in net assets as of Aug. 12, a live proxy for the substantial coin balances held off the market. Persistent inflows across the ETF landscape have repeatedly tightened Bitcoin's floating supply available for public trading. The result is more price sensitivity to each marginal dollar of demand. And, there are new players arriving to the market with plenty of demand. 2. Corporations, financial institutions, and treasuries are accumulating it The ownership base of Bitcoin is tilting toward entities that tend to buy and hold, which is another major tailwind. As of Aug. 13, there were roughly 1.5 million bitcoins held in ETFs, 935,498 held by public companies, and 517,296 attributed to countries, together representing more than 14% of Bitcoin's supply cap of 21 million. One type of holder stands out. Corporate accumulation is a major driver of the coin's price this year, as companies seek liquidity, collateral value, and brand alignment with a finite asset. When those long-term owners buy coins, turnover declines, and prices tend to grind higher over time. 3. Regulatory clarity and policy support are improving rapidly The third tailwind is regulatory clarity. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs) for listing and trading in early 2024, establishing a mainstream wrapper with daily liquidity and standard investor protections. Now, those ETPs are quite popular, and the SEC's ongoing rulemaking regarding crypto is helping to give big organizations the confidence they need to buy and hold it, too. Abroad, the E.U.'s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework has been in force since the end of 2024, with transitional timelines for service providers to come into full compliance during 2025 and 2026, creating a single rulebook and clearer pathways for banks and fintechs in the region to participate. Policy does not have to be perfect to be additive. It just has to be clear enough for institutional compliance teams to say yes, and Bitcoin is now past that hurdle in much of the world. 4. Crypto is now accepted across the investor spectrum The final tailwind is that Bitcoin is now obviously at the tail-end of its acceptance as an asset. Originally, owning Bitcoin meant wrestling with an awkward technical stack of wallets, keys, and exchanges. Explaining it to friends and relatives was more likely to be met with confusion or the stated conviction that it simply wouldn't ever be worth anything. Go back 13 or 14 years, and holding it often meant being considered to be a potential criminal, or worse, a nerd. Today, there are ETFs in retail investors' brokerage accounts, model portfolios at all of the leading wealth platforms, and research roadmaps for financial institutions. Even public pensions and endowments are investing or thinking about it. Everyone has heard of it, and many people own it. The frontier of awareness has been nearly fully tamed. That's going to ensure that a huge number of people keep up with this asset over time -- and that will almost certainly power it even higher over the long run. Should you invest $1,000 in Bitcoin right now? Before you buy stock in Bitcoin, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Bitcoin wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $663,630!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,115,695!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,071% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 185% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 13, 2025 Alex Carchidi has positions in Bitcoin and iShares Bitcoin Trust. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Bitcoin Soars Past $124k, a New All-Time High. 4 Tailwinds Behind the Momentum. was originally published by The Motley Fool
Forbes
29 minutes ago
- Forbes
Treasury Sec Issues Shock September Fed Prediction After Surprise U.S. Bitcoin Reveal Triggered Wild Price Swings
08/16 update below. This post was originally published on August 15 Bitcoin has plummeted after soaring to a fresh all-time high this week, with the combined crypto market losing well over $100 billion despite Elon Musk quietly signalling his support. Sign up now for CryptoCodex—A free newsletter for the crypto-curious The bitcoin price, which has doubled since this time last year, fell by 5% as traders brace for a September shock following U.S. president Donald Trump dropping a $12.2 trillion bombshell. Bitcoin's bearish reversal comes as U.S. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent revealed the U.S. holds far fewer bitcoin than previously thought, putting the value of the U.S. government's at "$15 billion to $20 billion"—well below estimates of more than $23 billion. Sign up now for the free CryptoCodex—A daily five-minute newsletter for traders, investors and the crypto-curious that will get you up to date and keep you ahead of the bitcoin and crypto market bull run The figure was used as Bessent appeared to rule out the U.S. buying additional bitcoin for the bitcoin strategic reserve promised by president Donald Trump during what seemed to be off-the-cuff remarks during an interview with Fox Business. "We've also started—to get into the 21st Century—a bitcoin strategic reserve. We're not going to be buying that, but we are going to use confiscated assets and continue to build that up. We're going to stop selling that," Bessent said, following a question about the U.S. gold reserves, adding: 'I believe that bitcoin reserve is at today's prices somewhere between $15 and $20 billion.' Estimates for how much bitcoin the U.S. government holds have been put at around $23 billion by various sources, including Arkham Intelligence, which reckons the U.S. is sitting on almost 200,000 bitcoin. Following the interview, Bessent sought to clarify his comments on X, saying, "Treasury is committed to exploring budget-neutral pathways to acquire more bitcoin to expand the reserve, and to execute on the president's promise to make the United States the 'bitcoin superpower of the world,'" and calling the 'bitcoin that has been finally forfeited to the federal government ... the foundation of the strategic bitcoin reserve that president Trump established in his March executive order.' 08/16 update: Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has said the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates by 50 basis points in September, mirroring a surprise 2024 interest rate cut that powered a bitcoin price boom into the November election. "If we'd seen those numbers in May, in June, I suspect we could have had rate cuts in June and July. So that tells me that there's a very good chance of a 50 basis-point rate cut," in September," Bessent told Bloomberg. "Rates are too constrictive. We should probably be 150 to 175 basis points lower," Bessent said, adding to U.S. president Donald Trump's war of words against the Fed and chair Jerome Powell. The crypto market surged this week after the latest U.S. inflation data gave the Federal Reserve a green light to cut interest rates in September, with markets now pricing in a 92% likelihood of a 25 basis cut, according to CME's FedWatch. A higher than expected producer price index reading wasn't enough to discourage traders from betting on an interest rate cut in September—with the resumption of the Fed's interest rate cutting cycle after a tariff-induced pause widely expected to support risk assets like bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. 'Adding momentum, macro conditions remain highly supportive, with U.S. equities hovering near record highs and the Federal Reserve expected to begin rate cuts in September,' Thomas Perfumo, global economist at the bitcoin and crypto exchange Kraken, said in emailed comments. White House crypto czar David Sacks has said Bessent and Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, an outspoken bitcoin bull, will have final say on whether to purchase additional bitcoin via 'budget-neutral' methods, such as selling off other government reserve assets such as gold. The bitcoin reserve and a broader crypto stockpile were ordered by Trump this year following a campaign promise first made during the Bitcoin 2024 conference. Trump's order instructed his crypto task force to explore how the reserve and stockpile would be funded, though a hotly anticipated report earlier this month failed to present any ideas, with the report's primary author Bo Hines, who headed Trump's council of advisers on digital assets, leaving his post shortly after publication. Bitcoin and crypto supporting senator Cynthia Lummis has said the Trump administration's priority is for the now passed Genius Act stablecoin bill and a crypto market structure bill that's still making its way though Congress, with the White House not going to look to the bitcoin reserve until they've both been passed. Sign up now for CryptoCodex—A free newsletter for the crypto-curious Earlier this year, the bitcoin price and crypto market was spooked by reports the U.S. could hold just 30,000 bitcoin—something Bessent's comments seem to refute. The U.S. Marshals Service was revealed in July to hold fewer bitcoin than previously thought, according to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by pseudonymous crypto journalist L0la L33tz, raising questions over how much bitcoin the U.S. government holds and whether some of the bitcoin was quietly sold off. "I'm alarmed by reports that the U.S. has sold off over 80% of its bitcoin reserves—leaving just ~29,000 coins," senator Cynthia Lummis, a bitcoin supporter who has championed the creation of a U.S. strategic bitcoin reserve, posted to X. 'If true, this is a total strategic blunder and sets the United States back years in the bitcoin race.' If the U.S. does only hold less than 30,000 bitcoin, it would bump it down to fourth in the global rankings, behind China (194,000 bitcoin), the U.K. (61,000), Ukraine (46,000) and ahead of Bhutan with 13,000 bitcoin.
Bloomberg
31 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
China's Latest Data Sound Alarm for Xi on Consumer Fragility
Five years after China began a push to rein in the nation's debt-addicted real-estate developers, its property market has yet to find the bottom. Prices of new and existing homes have been falling more or less continuously since August 2021, with the decline accelerating last month when it comes to new units. Data this week also showed that year-to-date property investment contracted by the most since the initial Covid shock in 2020. Another bleak milestone this week: the one-time No. 1 developer, China Evergrande, is now set to be delisted from its exchange.
