Bitcoin climbed to a two-week high, briefly surpassing $71,000, before paring its gains to finish 1.5% higher. The rise came amid new data from the May ISM manufacturing index, which indicated a slowing U.S. economy and fueled expectations of potential rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Several altcoins also saw significant price movements, leading the broader crypto market higher. Uniswap’s governance token (UNI) surged over 20% following a cryptic social media post from Uniswap Labs hinting at an upcoming announcement. Similarly, Starknet’s token (STRK) rallied over 10% after StarkWare, the development firm behind Starknet, detailed plans to use its technology to enhance Bitcoin‘s scalability. However, the impending release of $85 million worth of vested STRK tokens next week could put pressure on its price.
Bitcoin’s scalability remains a key challenge, with StarkWare proposing the use of ZK-STARK technology to address this issue. This concept, introduced by Eli Ben-Sasson in 2013, aims to make Bitcoin more accessible and scalable.
BNB, the native token of the BNB Smart Chain, advanced 7%, nearing its all-time high and surpassing a $100 billion market capitalization. This growth is driven by increased activity on Binance‘s launchpool and launchpad, where users can lock up BNB to participate in new token launches and airdrops.
The crypto market overall showed positive momentum, with the CoinDesk 20 Index up 1.8% over the past 24 hours. Seventeen of the twenty index constituents were in the green, reflecting the bullish trend.
Bitcoin’s rise to over $71,000 marked its first time above this level since May 20. This movement was influenced by the latest U.S. manufacturing data, suggesting economic cooling and potentially prompting the Federal Reserve to consider interest rate cuts later this year.
“We expect a further boost to this bullish momentum with the non-farm payroll (NFP) report this Friday,” crypto hedge fund QCP commented in a Tuesday update. “Markets are currently pricing in a 0% chance of a rate cut in June and July, but a weaker NFP number might change that.”
Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, traded around $3,800, up 0.3% but underperforming Bitcoin’s 1.5% rise. K33 Research predicted that upcoming U.S. spot ETH ETFs could attract $4 billion in inflows over five months, potentially boosting ETH’s price relative to BTC.
U.S.-listed Bitcoin miners experienced significant gains, led by Core Scientific (CORZ), which soared 40% following a deal with CoreWeave to host AI services. CoreWeave also made an all-cash offer to acquire Core Scientific at $5.75 per share. This sector, which has struggled since the April halving cut mining rewards by half, might see further mergers and acquisitions as companies look to diversify into AI.
Other notable gains included Marathon Digital (MARA) up 5%, TeraWulf (WULF) up 22%, Bitdeer (BTDR) up 12%, and Hive Digital Technologies (HIVE) up 8%. These movements reflect a growing trend of smaller mining companies becoming acquisition targets or diversifying into emerging technologies.
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