Soft dollar lifts crypto as Strait of Hormuz tensions simmer

The dollar slid to its weakest point since early June after a batch of soft US economic data, and crypto markets quietly said thank you. Bitcoin climbed above $64K, Ethereum pushed near $1,907, and Solana held above $75, all riding the updraft that a weaker greenback tends to provide risk assets. But the mood is far from euphoric. The Fear & Greed Index sits at 31, barely budging from last week’s reading of 30. Both scores land squarely in “Fear” territory, which tells you everything about how traders are processing the macro backdrop: a little relief from the dollar, a lot of anxiety about everything else. Why the dollar dropped and crypto caught a bid A weaker dollar mechanically helps assets priced in it. When the greenback loses purchasing power, it takes more dollars to buy a Bitcoin, a barrel of oil, or a share of anything denominated in USD. That relationship has been one of crypto’s most reliable macro correlations over the past few years. The trigger this time was disappointing US economic data that pushed the dollar index to levels not seen in over a month. For a market that spent much of the spring watching the Fed for rate signals, softer data reads as a higher prob...