Bitcoin has climbed back above US$90,000 for the first time in over six weeks, gaining more than 9 per cent over the past month.
The cryptocurrency by Wednesday afternoon was hovering above US$92,000, with Coinstash founder Mena Theodorou noting that the broader market is similarly gaining momentum. Ethereum, for instance, while down more than 10 per cent for the month, has seen gains of 13 per cent over the last five days.
“The rally seems to be fuelled by improving macroeconomic conditions, especially the easing of trade tensions, which is boosting investor sentiment. With confidence building, Australian markets may be poised to follow suit today,” Theodorou said on Wednesday.
Local investors also woke to news that US President Donald Trump had announced a significant cut to the 145 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency markets responded positively over the weekend, with bitcoin climbing steadily to its key support level of US$88,000 – unhindered by Trump’s ongoing standoff with the Federal Reserve.
According to Theodorou, this was largely led by the swearing in of pro-bitcoin advocate Paul Atkins as the new US Securities and Exchange Commission chair.
“While the agency’s full stance on crypto remains to be clarified, this appointment marks a major shift away from the heavy-handed regulation-by-enforcement approach of the previous administration,” he said, adding that markets are optimistic clearer frameworks will encourage innovation and growth across the broader cryptocurrency sector.
Meanwhile, researchers at Bitwise Europe pointed out that with political pressure mounting on Fed chair Jerome Powell, bitcoin’s outperformance reflects its growing structural divergence from risk assets.
Namely, in a weekend post on Truth Social, the President labelled Powell “Mr Too Late” and a “major loser”, demanding immediate rate cuts.
“With these costs trending so nicely downward, just what I predicted they would do, there can almost be no inflation,” Trump wrote. “But there can be a SLOWING of the economy unless Mr Too Late ... lowers interest rates, NOW.”
Bitwise Europe researchers André Dragosch and Ayush Tripathi explained that growing tensions between the Fed and its government, a declining US dollar and the uncoupling of US equities from hard assets, the macro landscape is beginning to “reward sovereign-free stores of value”.
“Last week, bitcoin remained quite consolidated between the US$83,000 and US$84,000, trading with low volatility under the backdrop of ongoing macro uncertainty,” the duo said in a market update.
“Not only does on-chain data support this – over 63.5 per cent of bitcoin supply has remained unmoved for at least a year, while long-term holder supply has climbed to a year-to-date high of 69 per cent – but we’re also seeing bitcoin appreciate alongside gold, reinforcing its identity as a store of value.”
This comes as the yellow metal soared to a new all-time high above US$3,400 per ounce, inching towards $3,500 as investors rushed into safe-haven assets.
Bitcoin’s label as a “digital gold” has been put into question in months prior, as the world’s largest cryptocurrency was swept up in the broad market risk sell-off. But its current divergence from equity markets throws a bit of a spanner in the works.
“Historically, bitcoin tends to lag gold during major rallies, a pattern that could hint at further upside for BTC in the weeks ahead,” Theodorou pointed out.
“Despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, rising on-chain activity and bitcoin’s looming breakout from a four-month downtrend suggest that bullish momentum could be returning. As the market shifts back into a risk-on mindset, the key question is: which assets will lead the next leg up?”
BTC Markets’ finance head, Charlie Sherry, added that bitcoin’s correlation with US equities has been driven by global liquidity up to this point.
“But with Trump’s trade policies reducing deficits and weakening the USD, we are currently seeing capital outflows from the US. This shift could see global liquidity increasingly driven by the rest of the world, which might allow BTC to break free from its US equity beta,” Sherry said in a LinkedIn post.
“Crypto believers have long called for BTC to decouple from risk and behave more like a digital gold.”
“It’s not held up in price terms but we are seeing from very slight signs right now, and I think the current global market conditions may actually allow this to happen,” Sherry said.
