Bitcoin held steady near $64,000 on Sunday, as traders awaited the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision due on Wednesday, amid huge options bets targeting a rise to $72,000 by the end of July.
Bitcoin rose by approximately 0.99% over the past 24 hours, trading at $64,486.10 as of 7:55 AM. This quiet weekend range followed a pullback from a one-month high above $66,400 reached on Tuesday.
Options traders have purchased nearly $2.5 billion worth of Bitcoin call options that expire on July 31, according to CoinDesk. These positions will benefit from Bitcoin's rise to around $72,000 following the Federal Reserve's announcement.
The market widely expects policymakers to leave the federal funds rate unchanged in the 3.50% to 3.75% range. Traders will be focused on President Kevin Warsh's comments regarding inflation, oil prices, and the likelihood of future rate hikes.
Bitcoin's failure to extend its recent rally suggests continued caution. The cryptocurrency fear-greed index stood at 27 on Sunday, reflecting apprehensive sentiment among market participants, after Bitcoin traded between $63,700 and $65,406.00 in the previous 24 hours.
Activity elsewhere was even more pronounced. Shiba Inu surged 36% to $0.0000057, adding nearly $1 billion to its market capitalization without any clear project announcement. South Korean buying fueled the rally, with the SHIB/KRW pair on Upbit becoming its most actively traded market.
In Washington, cryptocurrency advocates contacted Congress nearly a million times, lobbying for the passage of the Clarity Act through the Senate before the August recess. The bill aims to divide oversight of digital assets between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), but objections from seven Democratic senators have left its passage uncertain.
The real assets tokenized on the Robinhood Chain have increased nearly fivefold to reach $70 million. The tokenized shares on the chain generate approximately $55 million in daily trading volume, which represents less than one-tenth of the decentralized exchange activity on the network.
The European Union also added the HTX platform to its sanctions framework against Russia, prohibiting European companies and residents from conducting transactions with this cryptocurrency trading platform as of August 23.
Cryptocurrency prices today: Altcoins see a sharp rise
Cryptocurrency prices generally rose on Sunday despite quiet weekend trading.
Ether, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency, gained 1.53% to reach $1,882.15, while XRP added 1.20% to reach $1.0996.
BNB rose by 1.28%, while Solana and Cardano jumped by 1.73% and 2.23% respectively.
In the meme currency market, Dogecoin rose by 5.81%, and $TRUMP increased by 2.93%.
