Bitcoin Faces a Three-Way Macro Test Near $78,000

Bitcoin traded at $78,500 as the Japanese yen breached 160 per dollar in Tokyo trading, while a U.S. strike on Iran’s Larak Island added to market uncertainty. All these follow Friday’s broad dollar advance and hawkish remarks from Warsh at Jackson Hole, which lifted expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike.

It is reported that bond investors were pricing a Fed positioned to hike and that the repricing had pulled institutional money out of bitcoin ETFs across May and June. The yen itself has long been used as a funding currency for investments in U.S. stocks and Treasury notes.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that recent moves in the Japanese yen had been contained and did not warrant a joint U.S.-Japan intervention like the one seen last month. Reuters likewise reported that Bessent described the moves as contained.