James Richardson
Bitcoin briefly soared above the $97,000 mark during Wednesday morning trading in Asia, driven by renewed hopes of a thaw in U.S.-China trade tensions. The cryptocurrency touched a high of approximately $97,400 before pulling back slightly to $96,858, marking a 2.8% gain over the last 24 hours, based on PRIME’s pricing data. Ethereum also saw upward movement, trading 1.6% higher at $1,827.
The rally comes as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer confirmed that talks with Chinese officials will take place this weekend in Switzerland. These will be the first formal economic discussions between the two nations since the U.S.-China trade war began under former President Donald Trump.
“We aim to reshape the global economic system to better align with U.S. interests,” Bessent stated.
The announcement triggered a shift in market sentiment. Peter Chung, head of research at Presto Research, explained that the market quickly pivoted to “risk-on” mode following the diplomatic update.
“We saw gold — a traditional safe haven — drop, while Nasdaq futures and BTC began rallying, all in line with the timing of the announcement,” Chung said.
Bitcoin Seen as Hedge Amid Geopolitical and Economic Turmoil
Jupiter Zheng of Hashkey Capital noted that upcoming outcomes from the U.S.-China meeting could potentially boost global equities and Bitcoin, reinforcing a recovery from earlier tariff-induced downturns.
At the same time, geopolitical tensions in South Asia escalated, with reports from Reuters indicating that India struck nine targets in Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir. This added further uncertainty to the already volatile global landscape.
Nick Ruck, Director of Research at LVRG, commented:
“The bitcoin rally caught many off guard, especially as investors were bracing for potential Fed interest rate adjustments. But with rising geopolitical risk, bitcoin is emerging as a hedge against broader market instability.”
Asian Markets Mixed as Central Banks Step In
Across Asia, market performance was largely positive. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.7%, while China’s CSI 300 Index increased by 0.57%, following a move by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to ease monetary policy.
The central bank lowered the seven-day reverse repo rate to 1.4% from 1.5% and announced a 0.5 percentage point cut to the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) — a measure designed to stimulate lending and support economic growth.
Elsewhere:
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Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped slightly by 0.12%
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Topix edged up 0.27%
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South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.36%
Meanwhile, in the U.S., all major indices closed in the red overnight:
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S&P 500 fell 0.77%
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Dow Jones dropped 0.95%
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Nasdaq slipped 0.87%
