Bitcoin stabilized slightly on Monday, recovering after sharp losses last week as concerns over a slowdown in U.S. economic growth and impending trade tariffs affected the appetite for risk-driven assets.
Wider cryptocurrency prices rose marginally, but they were also recovering from risk-averse moves last week, while some profit-taking elements remained.
Bitcoin rose by 0.6% to $114,268.8 by 8:25 AM Saudi time.
Recent purchases by major corporate holders have failed to stop bitcoin losses, which have dropped by about 3% in the past five days.
Bitcoin is affected by weak jobs data and uncertainty about tariffs
The market dropped concurrently with Wall Street on Friday, after the non-farm payroll data for July came in much weaker than expected.
This reading heightened concerns about a slowdown in the U.S. economy, as did the sharp downward revision in job growth over the past two months.
Immediately after the data was released, President Donald Trump fired Labor Statistics Bureau Chief Erica McEntarfer, raising some concerns about the credibility of future U.S. economic data.
While weak jobs data bolstered bets on a rate cut by the Federal Reserve, it also underscored the rapid slowdown in the U.S. economy, given the importance of the labor market.
Adding to economic uncertainty, Trump’s tariffs against a range of key trading partners will go into effect this week, which could cause further economic disruption.
While bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are not directly affected by trade tariffs and a slowing labor market, the resulting shifts in sentiment do impact speculative asset prices. However, a decline in interest rates may benefit bitcoin in the long term.
MetaPlanet is buying more bitcoin
MetaPlanet Inc. (TYO:3350) said on Monday that it purchased an additional 463 bitcoins for approximately 17,268,320 Japanese yen ($116,975), bringing its total holdings to 17,595 coins.
The Japanese company, which has transformed from a hotel sector to a bitcoin treasury, said on Friday it will raise $3.7 billion in equity to purchase more bitcoin.
MetaPlanet is the seventh largest bitcoin-holding company in the world, trailing Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (NASDAQ:DJT) by about 200 coins.
Cryptocurrency prices today: alternative coins regain some ground
Wider cryptocurrency prices were positive on Monday, as major alternative coins temporarily regained some losses from last week.
Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency in the world, increased by 2.4% to $3,527.01, while XRP rose by about 5% to $2.9712. Both coins had fallen between 9% and 13% last week.
Solana rose by 0.8%, while Cardano added 2.4%.
Among meme coins, Dogecoin rose by 2%, while $TRUMP added 1.6%.