Cryptocurrency markets remained on the back foot Friday as macroeconomic signals from Japan, one of the world’s largest economies, compounded uncertainty driven by the Iran war.
Bitcoin hovered near $77,800, having struggled to break above the Thursday high of $78,700 during the early Asian trading hours, according to CoinDesk data. The broader uptrend, which began in late March near the $65,000 mark, appears to have stalled since Wednesday.
Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, traded around $2,300, slipping 0.8% since midnight UTC and underperforming bitcoin’s relatively modest 0.6% decline.
The cautious tone in crypto markets coincided with fresh inflation data out of Japan. The…
