Bitcoin traded back above $60,700 on Thursday after a swift overnight reversal, following remarks from Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh that inflation risks have eased. The move gave a clear lift to a market that had been grinding lower for most of June.
Warsh's Comments Shift Sentiment
Speaking at the European Central Bank's annual forum in Sintra, Portugal, on Wednesday, Warsh said "inflation risks have come down" while reaffirming the Fed's commitment to returning inflation to 2%. He declined to signal the central bank's next move, saying policymakers would weigh incoming data first. Bitcoin pared earlier losses and pushed back above $60,000 after the remarks, according to CoinDesk.
Solana Leads Weekly Gains Among Majors
Solana outperformed among major cryptocurrencies, rising about 4% on the day to around $78 and up roughly 16% over the past week, the only large token with a meaningful weekly gain. Ether traded near $1,630, up about 3% on the day, while XRP held at about $1.06. BNB, dogecoin and Tron were softer over the week.
Chip Selloff Rattles AI Trade, Potential Boost for Crypto
The bigger move was in stocks. A selloff in semiconductor shares spread to South Korea, where the Kospi index fell almost 7% before paring losses. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each dropped more than 6%, and Kioxia fell 13% in Japan after a rally that had lifted the stock more than 650% this year. The declines revived worries that the blistering run in AI stocks has outpaced reality.
Two reports fed the unease. Meta is building a cloud business to sell spare AI computing power, raising concerns of overbuilding. Apple is in talks to buy chips from two Chinese semiconductor makers, a move that could hurt Korean suppliers. The AI trade has absorbed capital all quarter while bitcoin fell, giving the asset a rare back-to-back quarterly loss. If the AI rally cracks, capital rotation out of chip stocks could ease the drag on crypto markets.
Elsewhere, Brent crude fell to about $70.60 a barrel, its lowest since late February before the Middle East war began, as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz recovered.