US government's bitcoin portfolio shrinks, pushing Donald Trump to take action
Bitcoin (BTC) is back to trying to consolidate above $100,000, a threshold that has been breached several times in the past day and is still holding near it. However, the increase in daily turnover is still marginal and is so far slightly lower than a week ago.
January 16, 2025 10:07
BTC appreciated as equity markets also rose, boosted by additional data on better-managed inflation in the US, which reinforced expectations that the Fed will have more room to cut interest rates.
BTC price during the week:
On a brighter note, the US government is preparing to return 94,000 BTC ($9.4 billion) confiscated from the thieves in 2016 to Bitfinex, a crypto exchange that was stolen.
Previously, the exchange had planned to sell 80% of this amount within a year and a half of its recovery, which would have increased pressure on the price. However, this return of BTC also means that the US government is further reducing its holdings of BTC and is increasingly ceding ground to other countries such as China.
Given that Trump is seeking to strengthen the US position in the BTC market, such a sharp drop in the BTC portfolio may force the new administration to be more proactive in addressing BTC reserve issues. In any case, the race between countries for BTC seems to be intensifying, with the Malaysian government now starting to look at how it can keep up with the BTC market.
However, the general market sentiment is still less and less the same and it is possible that the price could move more strongly in both directions. For example, the BTC derivatives market is also signalling the possibility of higher price movements ahead of the inauguration of the US President on 20 January, with the options market seeing an increasing number of attempts to hedge against a BTC peg.
On the other hand, expectations are growing that Donald Trump will sign orders in the first days of office that are favourable to the cryptocurrency market. So, if this does not happen, short-term speculators may again decide to sell out, although analysts stress that such behaviour would be short-sighted.
