Plus, an Australian judge ruled that Bitcoin is a form of money, according to the Australian Financial Review. That will potentially open the door to Bitcoin being exempt from capital gains tax.
Meanwhile, Ethereum has tumbled 4.3% on the day from $2,500 to $2,400 after what was considered a great month for the second largest cryptocurrency. As such $264.40 million worth of Ethereum positions have been liquidated, according to CoinGlass, with $205.28 million of these being longs.
This follows a month of green action for most of the crypto industry, as President Trump’s trade war appears to be coming to a close.
At the start of May, the U.S. and the UK agreed on a trade deal in what the UK Treasury minister called a “huge relief.” Then, last week, China reached an agreement with the States prompting a major roll back in tariffs between the countries.
However, inflation concerns have resurfaced following the Federal Reserve keeping its benchmark interest rate at 4.25% to 4.50%, with no sign of an immediate shift in policy—despite criticism from Trump. The Fed also warned that the risk of higher inflation and unemployment were rising due to Trump’s tariff war.
These concerns were compounded last week by Walmart announcing plans to raise prices this month, due to the impact that tariffs had on imports.
This may explain why Bitcoin has had such a surprisingly volatile week. It hit a weekly low of $101,750 on Tuesday followed by multiple peaks and troughs before hitting $106,500 high on Monday, and slumping back to $102,450 hours later.
Despite Bitcoin’s 1.4% drop on the day, according to CoinGecko, it remains just 5.8% from its all-time high of $108,786 hit in January of this year. Ethereum, by comparison, is still 50.9% from its all-time high of $4,878 achieved in 2021.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
decrypt.co
