Bitcoin Rises Above $84,000, But Soaring Treasury Yields Cap Gains

Bitcoin continued its advance on Thursday, building on a strong third-quarter performance driven by dip-buying and optimism over a potentially more favorable U.S. regulatory landscape. However, the rally is facing significant pressure from soaring U.S. Treasury yields, which are dampening investor appetite for risk assets.

As of 2:21 AM ET, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading up 1.5% at $84,307.1, according to Investing.com data.

Economic Data Creates Market Tension

A weaker-than-expected U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index reading on Wednesday initially pushed Bitcoin to a high of $85,600. The data fueled hopes that cooling inflation could lead the Federal Reserve to slow its pace of interest rate hikes.

Despite the soft inflation report, U.S. Treasury yields surged to multi-year highs, weighing heavily on non-yielding assets like cryptocurrencies. The rising yields increase the opportunity cost of holding Bitcoin. The market's focus now shifts to the U.S. non-farm payrolls report due on Friday for further clues on the Fed's monetary policy path and the health of the economy.

Altcoins Outperform, Broader Market Gains

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The wider cryptocurrency market saw gains on Thursday, with major altcoins continuing a trend of outperforming Bitcoin over the past three months.

• Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, rose 2% to $2,714.83 and posted a remarkable gain of approximately 70% for the third quarter.
• Other major tokens also advanced, with XRP up 0.8%, Solana (SOL) up 0.9%, and Cardano (ADA) climbing 4.2%.

Major Payment Firms Back New Stablecoin Standard

In a significant industry development, a stablecoin standard called OpenUSD, backed by payment giants Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe, as well as crypto exchange Coinbase, officially went live on Wednesday, CoinDesk reported. The standard, first announced in June, is now operational on the Ethereum, Solana, Base, and Tempo blockchains.

Open Standard CEO Zach Abrams told CoinDesk the initiative is targeting markets such as banking, cross-border payments, and institutional trading. The project reportedly has over 140 partners, including major financial institutions like BlackRock, BNY Mellon, and Standard Chartered.