Investing.com — Bitcoin prices rose on Friday as the world's largest cryptocurrency recovered some of its recent losses, but the rally was largely stalled by lingering uncertainty over U.S. interest rates.
It rose 3.3% in the past 24 hours to $67,615.0 by 01:09 ET (05:09 GMT). The token fell to $64,000 earlier this week as broader risk appetite worsened.
The Taiwan earthquake, worsening geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the threat of longer U.S. interest rates kept traders largely biased toward the dollar and other safe-haven assets.
Although it rose on Friday, it was still within sight of the all-time high it hit earlier in the week.
Numerous hawkish comments from Fed officials also weighed on risk appetite, with several members of the central bank warning that persistently high inflation would prevent the Fed from cutting interest rates sooner.
Bitcoin price expected to fall weekly as non-farm payrolls numbers approach
The world's largest cryptocurrency has fallen about 3% over the past five days and was on the verge of a weekly loss.
Bitcoin has struggled in a limited trading range since hitting an all-time high of over $73,000 in March. This economic downturn, combined with weakness in the US stock market and other major risk assets, resulted in a weak start to the second quarter.
Flows into the recently approved Bitcoin exchange-traded fund have also been seen slowing in recent weeks, as has trading activity in the sector.
While ETF approval was a major driver of Bitcoin's rise earlier this year, the trend now appears to be losing momentum.
Currently, the index to be released later on Friday is widely expected to be factored into the US interest rate outlook, and is currently attracting attention. A prolonged period of rising interest rates bodes badly for Bitcoin, which typically thrives in low interest rates and highly liquid markets.
Crypto prices today: ETH lags, XRP rebounds from 1-month low
Prices fell 0.8%, lagging other cryptocurrencies as the Securities and Exchange Commission prepares a decision on the world's second-largest cryptocurrency spot ETF, among other cryptocurrencies.
The SEC also appeared to be investigating whether Ethereum can be classified as a security.
Other sectors rose 1.8%, recovering from a one-month low hit earlier this week. However, the SEC lawsuit is scheduled to begin in April, and the outlook for the token remains bleak.
