U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote to congressional leaders that the Treasury Department expects the U.S. to hit the debt ceiling as early as January 14-23, 2025, and may need to take "extraordinary measures" to avoid the federal government going into debt. Breach of contract. Risk assets were trading weaker at the close just before the letter was released. U.S. stocks fell, with the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and Dow Jones Industrial Average all down about 1%. Bitcoin is down 4% from its session high. Historically, raising the debt ceiling has been a negative sign for the largest cryptocurrency, which has declined or underperformed in the ensuing days on each of the past five occasions. Since the cycle low in November 2022, Bitcoin has moved in line with the previous two cycles. The 2018-2022 and 2015-2018 cycles both saw significant retracements at this point in the cycle. Trump’s January 20 inauguration could signal a bottom for Bitcoin. (Coindesk)