In brief
- Bitcoin was recently trading above $108,000, a 1.7% gain.
- The U.S. and China are set to hold trade negotiations in London.
- A debt auction on Thursday could spark volatility, one analyst said.
The price of Bitcoin and Solana rose on Monday, as members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade team prepared to meet with Chinese officials in London, and investors eyed a series of U.S. bond auctions later this week.
Bitcoin was recently changing hands around $108,000, a 1.7% increase over the past day, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. The price of Solana rose 2.9% to $156, while altcoins like Hyperliquid popped 7% to around $38.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Saturday that Vice Premier He Lifeng would be in the UK through Friday, holding “the first meeting of the Sino-US economic and trade consultation mechanism.” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are among trade representatives that the U.S. will be sending, per CNBC.
The sit-down follows a phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping last week, which Trump described positively. Since Trump unveiled a 90-day pause on “reciprocal” tariffs for most countries, which is expected to expire in early July, tensions with China have increased, as Trump has accused China of violating its mid-May tariff pause.
In recent weeks, Trump’s trade maneuvers have been overshadowed by his One, Big Beautiful Bill—contributing to his falling out with tech CEO Elon Musk and sparking bipartisan concerns over the White House’s fiscal constraint. Overall, the Congressional Budget Office says Trump’s bill, known as OBBB, would add $2.4 trillion to the current deficit.
Widening budget deficits, in which the gap between government spending and revenue keeps growing, have been weighing on demand for long-term US bonds, according to analysts at crypto exchange Bitunix. Thursday’s auction of U.S. debt, while historically routine, could serve as a litmus test for investors’ appetite for U.S. debt, they added.
“[If] long-end U.S. bond yields hit new highs due to poor auction yields, market risk appetite will deteriorate sharply, negative for risky assets, especially crypto markets,” Bitunix wrote in a note.
A poorly received 20-year bond auction rippled through markets in late May, causing Bitcoin price to drop 2.4% to $106,900 in less than an hour, on May 21. As yields on the 20-year debt rose, stocks and the dollar sold off. The auction took place not long after Moody’s downgraded U.S. debt.
“If we see these bond auctions going rather badly then, then I think it would probably bode quite well for Bitcoin,” CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill told Decrypt. “At least, it would be, on a relative basis, outperforming equities and Treasuries.”
On Monday, yields on the 30-year were unchanged at 4.962%, according to CNBC data. Butterfill said that the dollar’s role as the global reserve currency has been eroded for years, and concerns about the U.S. debt are just the latest factor sending rates creeping higher.
“I’m not saying that the U.S. is suddenly going to default, or that the U.S. dollar is going to crater, but we might get to a point where the U.S. dollar really starts selling off,” he said, noting that gold has benefited from a similar environment.
Edited by James Rubin
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
