Bitcoin Nears $61.5K as Sharplink Buys $16M in Ether

Bitcoin rose to about $61,490 on Wednesday after earlier falling to a 21-month low of $57,737 following remarks by Federal Reserve official Kevin Warsh on persistent inflation. The US five-year Treasury yield jumped to 4.22%, increasing demand for fixed-income returns, and West Texas Intermediate crude fell to a four-month low.

Bitcoin dropped 20.5% in June, closing the month at $58,526 and finishing below its 200-week moving average near $62,000 but above its realized price around $52,000. Crypto analyst PlanB posted that ‘ALL previous bear market bottoms were below realized price’ and indicated Bitcoin could fall to about $52,000.

Crypto treasury Sharplink resumed Ether purchases after an eight-month pause, buying 5,000 ETH on June 25 and another 5,000 ETH on June 26 at an average price near $1,611 per ETH. On-chain records show the two purchases totaled about $16 million and raised Sharplink’s holdings to 866,725 ETH. In a statement, the company wrote, ‘The Company’s ETH purchases reflect its continued commitment to growing its ETH treasury as a long-term reserve asset.’

Ether and Solana also rose, with ETH up about 3% and SOL up roughly 4.85% on the session. Market sentiment indicators registered roughly 11 out of 100, a reading classified as ‘Extreme Fear.’

Institutional bitcoin products recorded estimated outflows of $4.5 billion in June from US spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Quarter-to-date data from an institutional market provider show long liquidations in Bitcoin and Ether totaled about $8.35 billion in the second quarter, a deleveraging that reduced speculative exposure while shrinking order-book depth.

Short-term flows and on-chain indicators remain cautious: Bitcoin is down about 8.8% over the past 30 days and Ether has fallen about 10.7% over the same period. Market participants are monitoring whether recent price moves represent a sustained recovery toward roughly $65,000 for bitcoin or a short-lived relief rally.