Bitcoin retreated from its latest record high amid an intensifying debate about whether the latest bull run in cryptocurrencies is evidence of speculative froth in global markets.

The largest digital asset dropped about 3% to US$68 631 as of 10.53am on Friday in Singapore, having set an all-time peak of almost $73 798 a day earlier. Both bitcoin and a gauge of the top 100 tokens, which includes the likes of ether, BNB and solana, are up roughly 60% so far this year.

Bets on looser US Federal Reserve monetary policy have helped to drive powerful rallies in global stocks, bonds and crypto in the past few months, but investors are reassessing such wagers following recent evidence of persistent inflationary pressure in the US.

Bank of America chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett said markets are showing the characteristics of a bubble in the record-setting surge by the technology sector’s so-called Magnificent Seven stocks and the all-time highs in crypto.

The comments feed into a live debate on Wall Street about whether many markets are vulnerable to a pullback. For bitcoin, supporters point to about $11.6-billion of net inflows into dedicated US exchange-traded funds and an upcoming reduction in the token’s supply growth as fundamental supports.

A report on Thursday showing a jump in US producer prices stoked worries that the Fed’s campaign to get inflation under control is far from over.

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Bitcoin was “undercut by the rise in US yields and the US dollar that followed the hot producer price inflation data”, Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Australia, wrote in a note. — Sunil Jagtiani, with Sidhartha Shukla, (c) 2024 Bloomberg LP