[Bitcoin Now] Sluggish Around 52 Million KRW... JP Morgan Predicts 6-7 US Fed Rate Hikes This Year

Weak Cryptocurrency Market Amid US Interest Rate Hike Concerns

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin is fluctuating slightly around the 52 million KRW mark. Amid this situation, Jamie Dimon, CEO of the major U.S. investment bank JP Morgan, forecasted that the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) could raise interest rates 6 to 7 times this year.

According to the domestic cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, as of 3:05 PM on the 17th, Bitcoin recorded 51.95 million KRW, down 0.41% from the previous day. Since the 14th, Bitcoin has shown little fluctuation between 51 million and 52 million KRW. On the same day at 9:07 AM, Bitcoin rose to 52.3 million KRW.

The recent weakness in the cryptocurrency market is interpreted as due to concerns over interest rate hikes. According to U.S. economic media Bloomberg on the 13th (local time), Patrick Harker, President of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, predicted at a conference hosted by the Philadelphia Business Journal that interest rates could be raised 3 to 4 times within the year. This forecast exceeds the 3 rate hikes anticipated at last month’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

CEO Dimon went further. According to U.S. economic media Yahoo Finance on the 14th, during a conference call following the earnings announcement, Dimon said, “The Fed is likely to raise interest rates more than 4 times this year,” adding, “It could raise rates 6 to 7 times.” He also stated, “The Fed’s role is to restrain inflation without stopping economic growth,” referring to Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Meanwhile, the largest U.S. retailer Walmart is pushing forward with the introduction of its own cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). According to U.S. economic media Bloomberg on the 16th (local time), Walmart submitted a total of 7 trademark application documents to the patent office last month. Among these, the digital advertising venture ‘Walmart Connect’ reportedly submitted 3 documents related to cryptocurrency. It is expected that Walmart will establish a metaverse (virtual world) applying digital technology in the future.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.