The Zhitong Finance App learned that Bitcoin broke through the $80,000 mark on Thursday. The latest increase in the number of initial jobless claims in the US has exceeded expectations, sending a signal that the labor market is cooling. In addition, Federal Reserve Governor Waller said that if inflation cools down in August, he will support keeping interest rates unchanged. The market will then drastically cut bets on the Fed's interest rate hike in September, driving the general strengthening of risky assets such as cryptocurrencies. As of press release, Bitcoin rose more than 5% to about 80,800 thousand dollars; Ethereum rose more than 4.8% to about 2,494 US dollars.
The probability of the Fed's interest rate hike in September plummeted, and risk assets were boosted
The main catalyst driving this round of cryptocurrency growth comes from changes in US monetary policy expectations. According to the latest data, the increase in the number of jobless claims in the US at the beginning of last week exceeded market expectations, showing some signs of weakness in the labor market. The cooling of the job market reduced the urgency for the Federal Reserve to continue tightening monetary policy, and traders immediately lowered their bets on the September rate hike.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Governor Waller gave further dovish signals. He said that if the upcoming August inflation data shows that price pressure has cooled down, he will support the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates unchanged at the September meeting.
According to the CME FedWatch tool, the market predicts that the probability that the Fed will raise interest rates by 25 basis points at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on September 15-16 has dropped sharply to 50.4% from 63.2% on Wednesday.
Expectations of interest rate hikes have cooled down the risk of a further tightening of the financial environment, thereby boosting investors' demand for risky assets. The cryptocurrency market, which is highly sensitive to changes in liquidity and interest rates, was the first to respond clearly.
Bitcoin broke through $80,000, and cryptocurrencies strengthened across the board
As the pressure on monetary policy eased, Bitcoin quickly hit $80,000. As of press release, Bitcoin has risen by more than 5% in the past 24 hours, reaching a price of $80,900.
Bitcoin itself has also recently received clear financial support. Previously, spot Bitcoin ETFs listed in the US recorded a net inflow of about 3.5 billion US dollars in August, making the largest monthly capital inflow in over a year, while Bitcoin accumulated a cumulative increase of about 25% in August.
In the context of the return of ETF funds, the sudden cooling in expectations of the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike further improved the risk appetite in the crypto market and pushed Bitcoin to break through the $80,000 mark once again.
Crypto concept stocks collectively explode, Circle soars 13%, Strategy rises 12%
The rise in cryptocurrency prices quickly spread to concept stocks related to US stocks.
Stablecoin USDC issuer Circle Internet Group (CRCL.US) surged 13%, Strategy (MSTR.US), which holds a large amount of Bitcoin, rose 12%, Galaxy Digital (GLXY.US) rose 11%, and Coinbase (COIN.US), one of the largest cryptocurrency trading platforms in the US, rose 8.9%.
Crypto mining companies are also strengthening across the board. Bit Digital (BTBT.US) is up 11%, MARA Holdings (MARA.US) is up 10%, Hive Digital (HIVE.US) is up 8.8%, and Riot Platforms (RIOT.US) is up 7.5%.
Since these companies' business revenue, asset values, or investor valuations are often highly correlated with cryptocurrency prices, when Bitcoin breaks through a critical price range, its stock price fluctuates significantly higher than Bitcoin itself.
Strategy, in particular, holds a large amount of Bitcoin on its balance sheet, so rising Bitcoin prices will directly increase the market value of the company's digital assets, making its stock one of the important tools for investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin leverage.
Robinhood surged 15% to surpass Solana and Ethereum in on-chain revenue
Robinhood Markets (HOOD.US) performed even more impressive, with shares surging 15% on Thursday. In addition to the overall recovery of the crypto market, Robinhood's own blockchain business data has also become an important factor driving up stock prices.
In the past 24 hours, Robinhood Chain generated around $4.32 million in revenue, ranking first among major blockchain networks, according to DeFilLama data. Over the same period, Solana's network revenue was about $3.98 million, Hyperliquid L1 was about $1.9 million, and Ethereum was about $1.75 million.
This data further strengthened the market's expectations for Robinhood's ability to commercialize its crypto business. Robinhood has continued to expand its cryptocurrency and blockchain business in recent years, and has taken digital assets as an important direction for diversifying the company's future revenue. As the scale of on-chain business grows, the rise in the crypto market will not only stimulate trading activity, but may also further expand the company's revenue streams from the digital asset ecosystem.