Bitcoin and Ether, the world’s two most valuable digital currencies, are on track for their greatest month since 2021, thanks to a resurgence of risk appetite in global markets and anticipation over an Ethereum network update. Bitcoin is up 28pc in July, while Ether is up 70pc, albeit their gains were halted on Friday. Both were barely altered as of 5 p.m. in New York, with Bitcoin about $23,950 and Ether around $1,730. Growing signals of a US economic downturn have some investors believing that the Federal Reserve will stop rising rates by the end of the year and may even switch to decreasing borrowing prices in 2023. This, in turn, would create a more favourable environment for speculative assets like cryptocurrency, which has taken a beating this year.