Bitcoin Surges Past $66K Amid Anticipation of Interest-Rate Cuts

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  <div><p><i><b>This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter, putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.</b></i></p></div>

  <div><p><h2>Market Update</h2></p></div>
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      <figcaption tabindex="0"><span>(CoinDesk)</span></figcaption>
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  <div><p><h2>Highlights</h2></p></div>
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      <b>Bitcoin climbs to approximately $66,200, gaining around 6% within a day, marking its strongest performance in two months.</b> The price surge of over 7.5% on Wednesday followed U.S. inflation findings that increased the likelihood of a Federal Reserve interest-rate reduction in the near term. Like other high-risk assets, Bitcoin tends to react positively to anticipated adjustments in the monetary policies of leading central banks, benefiting when borrowing costs are expected to fall. Market sentiment also hints at an impending rate cut by the Bank of England and the European Central Bank in June. The overall digital asset space has witnessed a 6% rise in the past 24 hours, as indicated by the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20).
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      <b>The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) plans to launch spot bitcoin trading, meeting growing client demand,</b> as reported by the Financial Times. Currently the leading bitcoin futures exchange, CME aims to challenge dominant players like Binance and Coinbase in the spot market space. "The potential introduction of a bitcoin spot market by CME could lead to a decline in business for existing crypto exchanges, especially as this bullish trend is heavily driven by institutional investors who prefer regulated trading environments," remarked Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research. The operation may run through the EBC currency trading venue based in Switzerland.
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      <b>ShibaSwap, the decentralized exchange linked with the Shiba Inu meme coin, has integrated with Ethereum's layer 2 solution, Shibarium.</b> Users now have the capability to establish new liquidity pools on Shibarium, enabling token swaps and earning a share of the trading fees for providing liquidity. The development team noted that utilizing the Shibarium blockchain for transactions will increase the burn rate for the SHIB token, thereby reducing its overall supply. SHIB's value has jumped 8.8% in the last 24 hours, mirroring the general market upward trend. “Increased transactions on the Shibarium network will lead to a higher burn rate of base gas fees, directly impacting the overall burn rate of $SHIB,” developers stated.
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  <div><p><h2>Daily Chart</h2></p></div>
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      <figcaption tabindex="0"><span>(Coinglass)</span></figcaption>
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      <li><p>The chart illustrates that the total dollar value locked in open PEPE perpetual futures on Binance surged to a record $285 million on Wednesday. Each futures contract is worth 1,000 PEPE.</p></li>
      <li><p>The data signal a renewed interest in meme cryptocurrencies, driven by weaker U.S. data and an increased appetite for high-risk assets among investors.</p></li>
      <li><p>Source: Coinglass</p></li>
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  <div><p><h2>Trending Topics</h2></p></div>
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