Bitcoin (BTC) dropped briefly below $63,000 on Thursday as cryptocurrencies tumbled following fresh data showing hotter inflation and slower growth in the U.S. in the first quarter.
The U.S. government’s preliminary report for first quarter GDP showed growth of just 1.6%, substantially lower than the 2.5% analysts estimated and down from 3.4% in the fourth quarter of 2023. Meanwhile, the GDP price index came in slightly hotter than expected at 3.1% and up from 1.6% in the previous quarter.
The disappointing inflation data report spooked investors, with hopes for interest rate cuts this year dimming further, hitting risk assets across all markets. Major U.S. stock indexes such as the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq began the trading session down nearly 2%, while the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond yield jumped 8 basis points to 4.73%, its highest reading since November.
BTC at one point slid more than 4%, hitting a $62,800 low before recovering to $63,700 recently. Ether (ETH) was also down 4% during the same period, changing hands at around $3,100.
Altcoin majors tumbled even more, led by native tokens of layer-1 network’s Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX) and Aptos (APT), all of which fell 8%-9% before paring some of the losses. The broad-market benchmark CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) declined 6%.
