Bitcoin bounced back after falling to its lowest level in Tuesday’s session, while Zcash continued its strong rally as Grayscale’s newly launched Zcash ETF surpassed $500 million in assets.
Bitcoin dropped below $78,000 and reached $77,666 before recovering toward $78,900 during early Asian trading Wednesday, according to CoinDesk data. The move left BTC nearly unchanged over the previous 24 hours, although it remained almost 2% higher for the week.
Zcash attracted considerably stronger momentum. Grayscale said its Zcash ETF, which trades as ZCSH on NYSE Arca, had exceeded $500 million in assets just two weeks after its Aug. 25 launch.
The fund recorded more than $70 million in cumulative inflows following its debut, in addition to a $100 million investment from DCG International Investments. Its holdings have now grown beyond 550,000 ZEC, equal to around 3% of Zcash’s 16.9 million circulating supply.
ZEC climbed above $1,180 on Tuesday, gaining more than 4%. Trading volume over 24 hours reached about $1 billion, while its market capitalization approached $20 billion, pushing the token into the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market value during the past week.
Other major cryptocurrencies posted more modest moves. BNB rose almost 2% to about $755, while Tron gained more than 1% to roughly 34 cents. XRP added around 1% to $1.42. Ether remained near $2,490 and Solana around $103, with both largely flat. Dogecoin traded close to 9 cents, while Hyperliquid’s HYPE token edged toward $86. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization stood near $2.8 trillion.
Broader financial markets remained heavily influenced by geopolitical and macroeconomic developments. Brent crude moved closer to $100 a barrel following U.S. strikes on Iranian tankers near Kharg Island, subsequent missile retaliation and Houthi attacks on Saudi refining infrastructure. Gold was around $4,407 an ounce, approximately 30% higher than a year earlier.
Treasury yields also remained elevated, with the 10-year yield near 4.8% and the two-year yield above 4.3%. CME FedWatch data indicated that traders were assigning roughly a 60% probability to a Federal Reserve rate hike at the following week’s meeting.
Jasper De Maere, an OTC trader at Wintermute, said crypto markets are currently responding primarily to interest-rate expectations rather than developments specific to digital assets.
He expects volatility to increase as the week progresses and investors receive the final economic data before the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 15-16 meeting. De Maere identified $75,000 and $82,000 as important Bitcoin price levels heading into the FOMC decision.
The remaining key economic releases include Thursday’s producer price index and Friday’s consumer price index. Core CPI is expected to slow to 2.4%.
Bitfinex analysts said ETF flows would be another important indicator for Bitcoin this week. They are watching whether crypto ETF inflows remain positive through the Sept. 9 Treasury buyback and Sept. 11 CPI release, even as the two-year Treasury yield stays above 4.34%.
According to the analysts, continued demand for crypto despite elevated short-term Treasury yields could signal that investors are becoming less dependent on Federal Reserve rate expectations when making digital-asset investment decisions.
