Bitcoin’s price crossed the $9,000 mark shortly after the Federal Reserve revealed in a policy statement it will keep the printers going to support the economy, which according to government data is now sliding into a recession.

Popular San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase suffered outages amid the flagship cryptocurrency’s price surge, with website, mobile apps, and API temporarily going down.

Two-thirds of Europeans believe cryptocurrencies are here to stay, as a survey conducted by bitFlyer showed 66% of respondents are confident cryptos will be around for the next 10 years.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Bitcoin Jumps to $9,200 as Fed Keeps Printers Going
• Coinbase Suffers Temporary Outages Amid Bitcoin’s Price Surge
• Two-Thirds of Europeans Believe Cryptos Will be Around in 10 Years, Survey Shows

At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $9,171.52 (15.45%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $9.36 bn. As for ether (ETH), it is trading at $219.86 (6.85%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $2.24 bn. The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index is currently tracking at 3,189.72 (9.22%).

Bitcoin Jumps to $9,200 as Fed Keeps Printers Going

Bitcoin’s price jumped on Wednesday to outperform U.S. stocks, after the country’s Federal Reserve revealed it’s going to keep pumping new money into the market, and government data showed the economy is sliding into a recession.

The cryptocurrency’s price moved from $7,900 to a $9,440 high in only 24 hours before correcting, bringing its year-to-date growth to 27%, past gold’s 12%. Bitcoin is widely seen as a hedge against inflation, and like gold is believed to benefit from widespread stimulus measures, as these assets help hedge against currency debasement. Over the last 30 days, BTC is up over 42%.

In a policy statement the Federal Reserve said it would keep benchmark U.S. interest rates close to zero, while reaffirming it will keep on buying U.S. Treasury bonds and other assets in an unbounded amount to keep the markets functioning smoothly. The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet is not at $6.5 trillion, the highest it’s even been in its 107-year-history.

During a press conference with reporters, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that it’s “clear the effects on the economy are severe,” but added:

"We won't run out of money. It's an unlimited pot."

The central bank’s policy statement came shortly after a report from the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis revealed gross domestic product in the U.S. contracted at an annual rate of 4.8% in the first quarter, as stay-at-home orders took their toll.

Powell further warned that in the second quarter economic data will reveal the “unprecedented” damage the coronavirus has made. Bitcoin’s rally was, however, likely aided by fear of missing out, according to Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Delphi Digital.

Coinbase Suffers Temporary Outages Amid Bitcoin’s Price Surge

Popular San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has suffered outages amid bitcoin’s price surge past the $9,000 mark, with its website, mobile app, and crypto API going down temporarily. On social media, users shared screenshots of the Coinbase website and mobile app having connectivity issues.

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken also reported some issues connecting its API as well, although its platform returned to normal operations by 18:56 UTC. Coinbase addressed the issues on social media, clarifying it implemented a fix and would continue to monitor the situation:

“We continue to monitor and will be running a full retrospective to ensure the root cause is fully addressed. This issue only affected customers’ ability to access Coinbase and Coinbase Pro UIs, and did not impact trading via our APIs or the health of the underlying markets.”

Coinbase has suffered outages during volatile days in the past. In June 2019 the platform’s API went down during a near $2,000 fall over a 15-minute period, and during this year’s crypto “Black Thursday” crash, when bitcoin lost around 20% of its value in under 20 minutes, the website went down as well.

These issues, according to CoinDesk, have even occurred in 2017, when the exchange suspended ether and litecoin trading due to outages.

Two-Thirds of Europeans Believe Cryptos Will be Around in 10 Years, Survey Shows

A survey conducted by bitcoin exchange bitFlyer shows that around 66% of Europeans believe cryptocurrencies will continue to exist in 10 years. The survey, conducted via Google Surveys, polled 10,000 people across 10 European countries, and shows a 3% rise on the result compared to last year.

According to bitFlyer, the results show growing confidence in cryptocurrencies, despite the “crippling effect” the coronavirus had on the global economy. In Italy, one of the most impacted countries, individuals were the most optimistic regarding the crypto space’s future, with 72% believing it’ll be around in 10 years.

Poland and the Netherlands came close to Italy’s optimism, with 70% of individuals believing in cryptocurrencies’ future. Andy Bryant, COO at bitFlyer Europe, stated:

"Although we might look at this as an achievement for digital currencies in spite of the challenging economic times we are facing, it is also worth considering that this may well be partly because of these times."

Notably, respondents in the U.K. were the least confident, with 56% saying cryptos will be around in the next 10 years.

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