Bitcoin stabilized near the $114,000 level after a sharp decline last week, amid growing concerns over a slowdown in U.S. economic growth and the looming implementation of new tariffs, which negatively impacted investor appetite for high-risk assets. The cryptocurrency recorded a slight gain of 0.6% to around $114,268, but remained down about 3% over the past five days, despite continued buying by major institutions.
The drop in Bitcoin coincided with a decline in Wall Street indices at the end of last week, following weaker-than-expected nonfarm payroll data for July. This reinforced fears of a U.S. economic slowdown, especially after previous months’ figures were revised downward. Sudden changes in the leadership of the Bureau of Labor Statistics following the report also raised additional concerns over the credibility of official economic data in the future.
Although the weak jobs data boosted expectations for a possible interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, it also reflected a faster deterioration in the U.S. labor market, which added pressure on speculative investment assets such as cryptocurrencies. Uncertainty further increased as the start date for new tariffs targeting several of the United States’ major trading partners approached this week, signaling potential additional market disruptions. While digital assets are not directly affected by such measures, they are sensitive to shifts in overall market sentiment and could benefit in the long term from a low-interest-rate environment.
Meanwhile, some major companies continued to expand their Bitcoin holdings. A publicly listed Japanese firm announced it had purchased an additional 463 Bitcoins worth approximately 17.3 million yen (about $116,975), bringing its total holdings to 17,595 Bitcoins. The company, which transitioned from the hospitality sector to cryptocurrency investment, also unveiled plans to raise $3.7 billion through a new share issuance to acquire more Bitcoin positioning itself among the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holders, just around 200 coins shy of another U.S.-listed company.
Elsewhere, alternative cryptocurrencies saw slight improvement at the start of the week, attempting to recover some of their recent losses, as caution persisted in the markets following the sell-off that had hit high-risk assets in recent days.
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