Strong U.S. employment figures this week weighed on Bitcoin, pushing the cryptocurrency below $64,000. The move followed fresh labor market data and a hawkish signal from the Federal Reserve.
Initial jobless claims fell to 226,000 for the week ending June 13, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3 percent for a third consecutive month. Bitcoin fell nearly 3 percent on the day after reaching an intraday high of $66,315 the previous afternoon.
The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate at 3.50 percent to 3.75 percent during its June 17 meeting. Officials raised their median projection for the end-of-2026 rate to 3.8 percent and lifted the year-end PCE inflation forecast.
Traders responded by pricing in an 85 percent chance of a December rate hike. Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded an $82.2 million net outflow on Wednesday.
Bitcoin later recovered 1.41 percent over the following 24 hours and remains the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
