BTC/USD: Bitcoin Price Index Holds Steady as Market Searches for Direction
By Sam Bourgi
The value of bitcoin was little changed on Saturday, as investors remained on the sidelines following the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates on hold.
The BTC/USD traded within a narrow range Saturday. It was last down 0.1% at $656.23, according to CoinDesk.
The bitcoin market has received little action since the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed held its benchmark interest rates at 0.5%, as expected, but indicated that “near-term risks to the economic outlook have diminished.” The market’s reading of the official statement was mixed, with the US dollar trading sharply in both directions before settling lower.
The dollar would suffer a major selloff on Friday after the Commerce Department said second quarter GDP expanded just 1.2% annually. That was less than half of what economists had expected.
There were no major market-moving events influencing bitcoin this week. The highly anticipated bitcoin halving event of July 9 has had a minimal impact on prices, a sign the cryptocurrency had entered into a period of increased stability following a boom-and-bust three years.
Bitcoin was in the news this week after a Florida judge dropped money-laundering charges against a man accused of selling bitcoins to undercover detectives. Judge Teresa Pooler said bitcoin still had a “long way to go” before it could be considered money. The decision has prompted a huge debate within the bitcoin community about the cryptocurrency’s legal status.
Cryptocurrency expert Christopher Burniske recently told CNBC that bitcoin was a technology that could do much more than fiat money.
“Bitcoin is more than money as we currently know it, and therefore should be given the space it needs to innovate and grow into its rightful place as a new kind of asset class,” he said.
Other experts argue that bitcoin is more accurately described as a commodity, since it is not backed by government and has a finite number of units that can be mined. The status of bitcoin has been challenged across the world and still operates in a legal grey area in many jurisdictions.
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