A bullish sun shines over Bitcoin, Ether and Ripple’s XRP in the next 24 hours and one-week time horizon, signaling upside potential. The other nine altcoins covered by ATTMO will, however, face bearish clouds and downward pressure in the next 24 hours. The sun will eventually break through in the medium term, with upside potential ahead over a one-week horizon.

Cryptos drop sharply on dashed rate cut hopes – key US inflation data released today

Cryptocurrencies fell sharply as the Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell, said inflation remains sticky. The US April producer price index (PPI) released yesterday also came in above expectations at 0.5 percent.

“We did not expect this to be a smooth road. But these [inflation readings] were higher than I think anybody expected,” Powell said. “I do think it’s really a question of keeping policy at the current rate for longer than had been thought.”

These comments and the PPI figure dashed the last hopes of a rate cut in June, and questions whether a cut will be announced at the following Fed meeting end-July. US interest rates are currently set at 5.25 percent, a 23-year high.

The price of Bitcoin fell 1.3 percent to $61,935 over the past 24 hours.

“Technically, Bitcoin is still pressing onto the 60,800 to 61,400 support level. If this is broken, we would expect lower prices. The average entry price for Bitcoin ETF holdings is around 57,000, so any break below 60,000 will likely cause an adrenaline spike for those investors. It is no coincidence that BTC inflows slowed once Bitcoin failed to rally,” 10x Research said in its daily note.

The CEO of the crypto Investment firm Galaxy Investment Partners, Mike Novogratz, echoed these views during his company’s earnings call held yesterday:

“Until you see that movement in short-term rates both here and abroad, and/or more regulatory clarity, Bitcoin probably trades in a range” of between $55,000 and $75,000, he forecasts. Bitcoin has been trading between $57,000 and $73,000 over the past three months, Trading View’s Bitcoin chart shows.

US inflation data in the spotlight today

Key macroeconomic figure will be released later today: the US April inflation data. An annual inflation rate of 3.4 percent is expected, a figure which is well above the Fed’s 2 percent target. A figure above this level is likely to put additional pressure on the crypto sphere.

Regulatory filings show professional investment firms hold ~5 billion of Bitcoin ETFs

As the deadline for filing quarterly reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lapses later today, it becomes clear that numerous institutional investors now hold spot Bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs).

“By the time the May 15 filing deadline arrives, I suspect we may end up with 700+ professional firms and total [assets under management] AUM approaching $5 billion,” the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Bitwise, Matt Hougan, said in his weekly note. “This is absolutely massive. For any financial advisor, family office, or institution wondering if they were the only one considering bitcoin exposure, the answer is clear: You are not alone.”

Not only institutional investors have jumped on the Bitcoin ETF bandwagon. So did the state of Wisconsin’s Investment Board that disclosed it bought $99 million worth of BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF in a regulatory filing.

MicroStrategy included in benchmark global stock index

MicroStrategy, the listed company holding most Bitcoins, will be included in the benchmark MSCI World Stock Index as of June 1, MSCI announced. MicroStrategy launched its Bitcoin strategy in August 2020 and has since then amassed 214,400 Bitcoins – more than 1 percent of Bitcoin’s total supply.

The company’s Bitcoin stake is valued at $13.3 billion at today’s price. The unrealized capital gain of this investment is estimated at roughly $7.5 billion.

Solana developer admits to stealing users’ funds

A developer of Solana's Cypher protocol has admitted to stealing $315,000 of users’ funds and spend it on gambling. The price of Solana fell 3 percent to $144.

Massive growth ahead for the crypto market

The co-founder of Real Vision, Raoul Pal, expects the crypto market capitalization to grow to a whopping $100 trillion from today’s $2.7 trillion as global liquidity rises and on the rapid adoption of cryptocurrencies.

Stablecoin issuer’s legal base to be moved back to the US ahead of IPO

Circle will move its legal base to the US ahead of its planned initial public offering, Bloomberg reports. The issuer of the world’s second-largest stablecoin USDC’s legal base is currently located in Ireland. USDC’s market cap is $33 billion.

DISCLAIMER

ATTMO, a weather-inspired AI tool, makes cryptocurrency predictions. It also forecasts longer-term cryptocurrency trends. These forecasts are not trading advice; they are only decision support tools. They do not include information that is specific to the user; in particular they do not account for their personal risk appetite or market assessment. The forward-looking weather-inspired predictions part of this report may have changed by the time you read this edition of ATTMO Times. So always check the latest ATTMO predictions before making any investment decision.