Bitcoin surged on Friday after a report showed that U.S. jobs grew less than expected, rekindling expectations of interest rate cuts, raising the appeal of speculative assets. The rebound helped erase much of the falls seen earlier in the week as Fed officials became more hawkish and fears of falling demand for ETFs. Stéphane Ouellette, CEO of FRNT Financial, said that the takeaway this week is that Bitcoin has hit new all-time highs and new developments in Bitcoin ETFs have essentially opened the door for Wall Street to participate in the Bitcoin market, which we have never seen before. Previously, Bitcoin did not have any clear correlation with other asset classes, and this week, especially in the sell-off ahead of Tuesday night's Fed meeting, Bitcoin traded very clearly with other risk assets.

According to CoinShares, investors have withdrawn a total of $738 million from Bitcoin instruments on trading platforms in Germany, Canada and Sweden this year, affected by lower management fees for Bitcoin spot ETFs in the United States. Stéphane Ouellette, CEO of FRNT Financial Inc., said that with Bitcoin hitting new all-time highs, most exit investors are likely to switch from one Bitcoin product to another in pursuit of lower management fees. James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, said that some of the outflows could be a "repatriation" of U.S. investors' funds, but could also be due to long-term investors taking profits when Bitcoin rose. However, the pace of capital outflows appears to be slowing. According to CoinShares, about 50% of year-to-date outflows across crypto products in Germany, Canada, and Sweden have occurred in January, while year-to-date outflows in the most recent month have only accounted for about 26% of total outflows this year. [Bloomberg]

Golden Finance reported that FRNT Financial co-founder Stephane Ouellette said that Bitcoin’s rise can be seen as a safe hedge against further banking industry turmoil. In line with recent comments from Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chairman Martin Gruenberg, Gruenberg said the banking industry still faces significant downside risks from inflation and high interest rates. A Bitcoin price prediction from James Butterfill, head of research at Crypto Asset Management, suggests the price of the top cryptocurrency could rise if the government shuts down.