Bitcoin Price Wavers. Trump Appoints Another Crypto Bull to His Team. — Barrons.com
2024-12-23
Category: None

By Elsa Ohlen
Bitcoin price was wavering early Monday following a bad week for the crypto. It comes after another appointment by President-elect Donald Trump that will likely please the crypto industry.
Bitcoin was down 0.9% over the last 24 hours to last trade at $95,470, according to CoinDesk data. The world's largest digital token has fallen about 10% in the past week, hurt by the Federal Reserve's hawkish outlook for 2025.
Fed officials see a slower interest rate cutting cycle in the year ahead than many had previously expected after the central bank lowered the benchmark rate by a full percentage point in 2024.
It matters for cryptocurrencies as its price tends to rise when the Fed cuts rates and fewer rates cuts could hamper the crypto rally.
Even with last week's drop in price, Bitcoin is still up over 100% this year, fueled by the incoming President's pro-crypto stance. On Sunday, Trump said he would nominate Stephen Miran to be Chair of his Council of Economic Advisers.
"Steve will work with the rest of my Economic Team to deliver a Great Economic Boom that lifts up all Americans," Trump wrote in a post on the social-media platform Truth Social.
Miran is currently a Senior Strategist at Hudson Bay Capital Management, according to his LinkedIn profile, and served on the Treasury Department during Trump's first term in office. Miran has spoken positively about deregulating cryptocurrencies and Trump's economic agenda in general.
Trump previously also appointed crypto advocates Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission and tech investor David Sacks  tech investor as his new artificial intelligence and crypto czar.
Among other cryptocurrencies, XRP is down 2.6% over the last 24 hours, while Ethereum is down 1.6%, and Solana is trading 1% lower.
Write to Elsa Ohlen at elsa.ohlen@barrons.com
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