Weekly Wrap: Rate Hike Expectations Pressure Crypto

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) and other cryptocurrencies were down to end the trading week on Sept. 11 as the odds of an interest rate hike in the U.S. continued to rise. Futures markets now see a greater than 70% chance that the U.S. Federal Reserve raises interest rates by 25-basis points at its meeting on Sept. 16.

Markets ratcheted up their expectations for higher interest rates following a hot U.S. inflation report for August, and as crude oil hovers near $100 U.S. a barrel for the first time since May of this year. Higher interest rates are negative for risk assets such as crypto. As a result, Bitcoin was trading at $77,500 U.S. at week's end, down from a recent high of $82,000 U.S.

Other digital assets were also under pressure, with Ethereum's (CRYPTO: $ETH) price right around $2,500 U.S. Despite the pullback, crypto prices remain sharply higher than where they were a month ago, when Bitcoin was trading below $65,000 U.S. BTC peaked at an all-time high of $126,198.07 U.S. on Oct. 6 of last year.

Here's what else happened with cryptocurrencies over the past week…

Strategy Holds Off On Bitcoin Purchases: Strategy (NASDAQ: $MSTR) did not buy or sell any Bitcoin over the last week. Instead, the company focused on repurchasing 1.81 million shares of its preferred stock (NASDAQ: $STRC) for $176.3 million U.S. Strategy also increased the total allowable repurchase amount of its preferred stock to $2 billion U.S. from $1 billion U.S. The serial crypto acquirer kept its holdings of Bitcoin unchanged at 845,050 BTC.