- Fed said the unemployment rate “has stabilised at a low level in recent months” and the job market is solid
- This optimistic stance has buoyed the crypto market, which has remained somewhat flat after negatively reacting to DeepSeek’s increasing popularity and shattering of top tech shares in the US market
- Bitcoin has risen by 3.70% to $105,817 in the past day, while its volume of trade has surged by 40.28% to $54.83 billion
On Wednesday, January 29, the United States Federal Reserve held the benchmark interest rate unchanged, triggering expected bullish sentiments in the global crypto market. In a statement, Fed said the unemployment rate “has stabilised at a low level in recent months,” and the job market is "solid.”
It also said inflation “remains somewhat elevated,” signalling that there may be just a few rate cuts in the coming months.
This optimistic stance has buoyed the crypto market, which has remained somewhat flat after negatively reacting to DeepSeek’s increasing popularity and shattering of top tech shares in the US market.
In reaction, the price of the largest crypto by market capitalisation, Bitcoin, has increased by 3.70% to $105,817 in the past day, while its volume of trade has surged by 40.28% to $54.83 billion, according to Coinmarketcap data. At the time of writing, the coin’s market cap has increased by 3.56% to reach $2.09 trillion.
Altcoins have also reacted. At the time of writing, Ethereum was trading at $3,277, up 6.28% in the past day. The coin’s market cap has also increased by 6.11% to $394.97 billion, and the volume of trade in the past day has reached $26.89 billion, which is up 38.00%.
XRP was up 2.54% to trade at $3.12. Its market cap reached $179.9 billion, up 2.54%, and 24-hour trading volume increased by 13.26% to $6.86 billion. SUI is one of the biggest gainers, rising 12.91% to trade at $4.15. Its market cap also increased to $12.49 billion, up 12.91%, and trading volume reached $1.84 billion, up 129.08%.
The global crypto market cap increased by 3.89% over the past 24 hours to reach $3.59 trillion, while the total crypto market volume increased by 34.13% to $138.85 billion. The total volume in DeFi reached $9.33 billion, which is 6.72% of the total crypto market 24-hour volume. The volume of all stablecoins reached $125.3 billion, which is 90.24% of the total crypto market 24-hour volume.
Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 58.20%, a decrease of 0.37% over the day, but crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen predicts it could spike to over 60% in the near future. He adds that Bitcoin dominance may need to rise above the 60% mark before altcoin-to-Bitcoin pairs see a relief bounce.
How Ledger co-founder David Balland was kidnapped for BTC ransom, released
Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that on January 22, 2025, rumours spread that David Balland, the co-founder of Ledger, a cryptocurrency hardware wallet manufacturer, had been kidnapped for Bitcoin ransom. The rumours caused panic about his safety and those close to him.
The rumour also sparked a flurry of reactions. Journalist Grégory Raymond later wrote around mid-morning New York time that Ledger co-founder Éric Larchevêque said, “Eric is safe. It’s the only thing I can communicate at the moment. I’m in the process of checking the information.”
