Bitcoin Prices Rising as Crypto Apocalypse Delayed — For Now

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Bitcoin
and other cryptocurrencies were rising Thursday as investors absorbed testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that a U.S. recession was a possibility.

Bitcoin, the oldest and largest digital coin, added around 1.1% to $20,675, according to CoinDesk.

Ethereum
was up 1.7% while Solana gained 2.3%.

Digital assets rose Wednesday during Powell’s testimony before Congress because there were some glimmers of optimism. While Powell did tell U.S. lawmakers that the Fed was “strongly committed to bringing inflation back down,” he also provided some hope to investors by adding that it was possible there could be a slower pace of interest rate hikes, but only when there is evidence of a slowdown in growth and inflation.

After Powell’s comments, Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, wrote: “Bitcoin remains a shadow to U.S. stocks and pared losses after Fed Chair Powell pledged to be nimble, prompting traders to believe they might not be too aggressive with tightening once they believe the economy has significantly weakened.”

But crypto could also help weaken the economy. Crypto companies were big spenders on advertising and tech hardware, notes Yardeni Research’s Ed Yardeni. That can’t help but have an impact on the overall economy. “Many of the many cryptocurrency players are bound to succumb to hypothermia during the brutal industry contraction dubbed ‘crypto winter,’” Yardeni writes.

For now, though, Bitcoin seems to have found a bottom after looking like it was ready to break lower over the weekend. Can it hold?

Write to Rupert Steiner at rupert.steiner@dowjones.com