While a portion of this move has been retraced, with Bitcoin now trading at $6,400 as of the time of this article’s writing, the cryptocurrency is still outperforming (up 7% on the day) the S&P 500 and Dow Jones, which have fallen 2% since the open as fears of a recession spread.
The stock market’s latest bout of weakness, which may affect Bitcoin, is seemingly a result of a confluence of news regarding the spread of the coronavirus-caused illness COVID-19 and the related economic effects of this outbreak. These include but are not limited to:
A more than 50% increase in U.S. coronavirus cases from Friday to Monday.
The coronavirus bill‘s failure to “clear the first procedural hurdle” in the Senate.
A comment from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard that unemployment could reach 30% in the second quarter, with GDP falling by 50%.
Fed News Hyper-Bullish For Bitcoin
The outperformance of Bitcoin comes as the Federal Reserve has announced a historic measure.
After cutting its policy interest rate by 1.5% in a matter of a month, implementing the fourth phase of quantitative easing, and reducing reserve requirements to zero (meaning banks don’t need to hold any of your money), the United States Federal Reserve will be implementing a series of programs to “support smooth market functioning and effective transmission of monetary policy to broader financial conditions and the economy.”
These programs include the purchasing of corporate debt, Treasuries, and mortgage-backed securities until the economy normalizes again. (Unfortunately, the Fed’s purchasing of Bitcoin is not on the table.)
While the word “infinite” was not mentioned in the Federal Reserve’s press package on this news, many economists and analysts in the Bitcoin space have dubbed these measures “QE Infinity,” as the central bank has seemingly put no limit on how many assets it can buy in the foreseeable future.
This comes shortly after Su Zhu of Three Arrows Capital remarked that Bitcoin could rally to $50,000 “relatively quickly,” which would mark a 700% gain from the current price of $6,300.
He explained that with the U.S. dollar set on a course for inflation “it will be hard to turn back from,” which has been corroborated by trends in the bond market,” BTC could be set to shine.
This is in theory the moment Bitcoiners have been waiting for
Several EM mkts are now pricing in significant risk of sovereign defaults
USD itself set on an inflationary course it will be hard to turn back from
If $BTC mkt holds these lvls, 50K relatively quickly is possible https://t.co/CSSXEuNGyd
— Su Zhu (@zhusu) March 18, 2020
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