Bitcoin reverses lower as investors digest Trump crypto comments and look ahead to central bank meetings

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Cryptocurrencies slipped to begin the final week of July as traders digested a slew of political developments that took place over the weekend and looked ahead to central bank meetings this week.

Bitcoin fell more than 1% Monday, trading at $67,264.00, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it rose as high as $69,982.00. Ether also pared gains, but rose rose more than 1% to $3,311.28. Bitcoin ended last week with a 1% gain and ether dropped 7%.

Traders are watching the Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan and the Bank of England – all of which are meeting this week. Eyes are on Fed Chair Jerome Powell in particular, with hope his comments will confirm an interest rate cut in September.

Elsewhere, former President Donald Trump delivered a highly anticipated speech over the weekend at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, taking aim at Democratic lawmakers including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler and the Biden administration at large. Trump faulted the officials for the ways he said they've harmed the industry by failing to provide rules and regulations for it to operate in and thrive.

He also said it would be his policy to keep 100% of the bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds (about 210,000 bitcoins), serving as the beginning of a National Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. In remarks that garnered the biggest roar from the audience, Trump vowed that he would replace Gensler "on day one."

On the same day, Cynthia Lummis, the pro-bitcoin Republican senator from Wyoming, announced she would introduce a bill in the coming days that would pave the way for the bitcoin reserve, implementing a 1-million-unit bitcoin purchase program over a set period