Bitcoin neared $10,000 on Tuesday, trading at $9,887.69 as of 1:45 p.m. HK/SIN, as traders eyed another record high. Many analysts believe that the surge in the cryptocurrency’s price was prompted by the recent announcement that CME Group, the world’s biggest derivatives exchange operator, would soon start offering bitcoin futures. The buying frenzy increased last weekend during the American Thanksgiving holiday which is traditionally known as a time for frenetic purchasing usually of gifts and personal items. However, bitcoin seemed to have enjoyed the weekend action, with Coinbase reporting that 300,000 new accounts were opened between last Wednesday and Sunday. Coinbase now boasts 13.3 million users worldwide.
Currency Market Movements
Currency markets were fairly stable across the board on Tuesday as investors waited for the confirmation hearing of Federal Reserve chair nominee Jerome Powell on Tuesday, as well as hints from Powell regarding the Fed’s monetary policy. On Monday, Powell said that “We {the Fed} expect interest rates to rise somewhat further and the size of our balance sheet to gradually shrink.”
The dollar was trading modestly higher against the yen at 111.16, still down substantially from highs hit earlier this month. The greenback was lower against the euro, trading at $1.1904. The dollar index was down 0.04 percent during the afternoon on Tuesday’s Asian session, trading at 92.86 .DXY.
The British pound was up 0.10 percent on Tuesday afternoon after briefly hitting an eight-week high on Monday before investors pulled back in advance of the upcoming EU summit. The pound hit $1.3383. It fell to $1.3328 by Tuesday afternoon.