Bitcoin climbed on Tuesday after a plethora of negative headlines had pushed the massive cryptocurrency to a new 2022 low over the weekend.
The price of Bitcoin soared about 4% to $20,881.56, according to Coin Metrics. Over the weekend, it plunged as low as $17,958.05. That was its lowest point since December 2020.
Meanwhile, ether surged 1.9% to $1,123.44.
The moves came amid a bearish sentiment for the cryptocurrency industry that was sparked by macroeconomic forces. Wholesale prices surged at a near-record annual pace last week and the Federal Reserve hiked its benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point, the biggest increase since 1994.
Crypto companies, including Coinbase and BlockFi, are laying off their staff. Crypto lenders, which promise users high yields for depositing their digital coins, have been sparking insolvency fears.
“Bitcoin’s weekend dip was, to put it simply, not deep enough,” said Yuya Hasegawa, a crypto market analyst at Japanese bitcoin exchange Bitbank. “The macro-environment has not really changed from last week’s [Federal Open Market Committee] meeting: There still has not been a clear sign of inflation coming down and the Fed may still drive the economy into recession by raising rates too aggressively or simply by failing to tame inflation.”
