Bitcoin's price saw slightly lower trading today, as it traded at around $110,000, down from its record peak near $112,000 reached yesterday, Thursday, at the end of the day, due to some profit-taking and movements from "whales" (large investors). However, cryptocurrency assets maintained their strong support due to regulatory optimism in the U.S., especially with progress made on the stablecoin bill.
A report by the Wall Street Journal late Thursday showed that major U.S. banks are in preliminary discussions to launch a joint stablecoin, which boosted positive sentiment in the market.
The price of Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency in the world, fell today by 0.6% to $110,827.50. The currency had risen to a record high of $111,953.6 near $112,000 on Thursday, but gave up some gains as investors took profits at these peak levels.
The current weakness is also attributed to significant transfers overnight. According to Whale Alert, the leading U.S. cryptocurrency platform Coinbase received transfers worth over $670 million within a few hours.
However, Bitcoin is still on track to achieve a weekly increase of about 8%, after rising nearly 18% this month, confirming the overall positive momentum.
Progress on U.S. legislation, officially titled the "National Stablecoin Innovation Act," in the Senate this week is a focal point, as investors view the bill as a critical step towards comprehensive cryptocurrency regulation, which could provide legal clarity and encourage broader institutional participation in digital assets. This represents strong support for Bitcoin.
Stable inflows into U.S. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continued to support demand. These funds saw net inflows of $934.7 million on Thursday, marking the seventh consecutive day of gains, with the BlackRock IBIT fund leading the way with inflows of $877.6 million, while the total trading volume across the 12 Bitcoin funds was about $5.39 billion.
The Wall Street Journal reported that major U.S. banks, including institutions linked to JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo, were in preliminary discussions to launch a joint stablecoin. This move aims to address increasing competition from the cryptocurrency industry, and banks see the potential to leverage stablecoins for faster and cheaper payments, especially in cross-border transactions.