Bitcoin holds above $77,000 after weak hiring report fails to shake rate hike bets

Bitcoin traded comfortably above $77,000 on Wednesday, shrugging off an ADP employment report that missed expectations by a wide margin. The largest cryptocurrency hovered between $76,985 and $78,000, holding its ground as traders decided that soft hiring numbers weren’t enough to derail the Federal Reserve’s likely path toward another rate increase. The numbers behind the calm ADP’s August National Employment Report showed private-sector employers added just 38,000 jobs, falling short of the 47,000 consensus estimate. That makes it the slowest pace of hiring since January. July’s figure was revised downward to 46,000 from earlier estimates. On Polymarket, contracts continued to reflect a meaningful probability of a 25-basis-point rate hike at the Fed’s September meeting. Oil prices above $90 per barrel are doing the Fed no favors. Energy costs feed into everything from transportation to food production, and when crude is running that hot, the central bank has a harder time justifying a pause, let alone a cut. Why Bitcoin didn’t flinch Institutional flows into spot Bitcoin ETFs have provided a steady bid that acts as a floor during periods of macro uncertainty. Bitcoin has develope...