By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless otherwise noted)
They said bitcoin had dual appeal: first, as a gold-like digital token with a supply capped at 21 million, and second, as a decentralized technology that allows anyone to move money seamlessly, without intermediaries.
For now, it is failing to hold up as a store of value and payment infrastructure. Bitcoin’s underperformance compared to gold, silver, and other precious metals is well documented.
Equally disappointing is the slowdown in onchain activity to levels last seen in mid-2025. For example, the 30-day average of confirmed daily payments processed on the Bitcoin blockchain fell to 748,368, the lowest since mid-July, according to data source Blockchain.com. The number peaked at more than 884,000 in September. A payment means that the recipient(s) receive funds via an on-chain transaction.
The monthly average of the number of confirmed transactions shows a similar decline in network usage. The mempool, or “memory pool,” where unconfirmed transactions wait for miners to verify them, has also dried up. It remains stuck at a few thousand unconfirmed transactions per day, a trend that has continued since the end of 2025.
“On-chain signals indicate a market in consolidation rather than accumulation. Network activity has slowed. Lower conviction from institutions and retailers can be seen in a drop in active addresses and moderate trading volumes,” Vikram Subburaj, CEO of India-based exchange Giottus, said in an email.
A token’s price is tied to active adoption by users of its parent network, and the recent decline in activity at least partly explains BTC’s poor price performance over the past few months.
Bitcoin, the top cryptocurrency by market value, fell back to $87,500 after hitting a high above $90,000 ahead of Wednesday’s Fed meeting. The central bank kept interest rates unchanged, as expected. The accompanying policy statement and Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference suggest that policymakers may be more cautious about rate cuts in the coming months.
With BTC falling, the most notable sectors from earlier this week are now deep in the red. For example, the CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) has declined by over 9% in the past 24 hours. The Metaverse Select (MTVS) and Culture and Entertainment indices are down more than 5% each.
Meanwhile, gold tokens PAXG and XAUT traded higher, benefiting from the continued rise in spot gold prices. Worldcoin’s WLD increased by 5%.
In traditional markets, oil prices have reached four-month highs on both sides of the Atlantic, threatening to inject inflation into the global economy. A new energy-driven inflationary push could make it even harder for the Fed to cut rates next time. Stay vigilant!
Read more: For analysis of current altcoin and derivatives activity, see Crypto Markets Today
What to watch
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Cryptocurrency
- Macro
- January 29, 8:30 a.m.: US trade balance for November (previous $331.4 billion)
- January 29, 8:30 a.m.: first unemployment claims in the United States for the week ending January 24 (previous 200,000)
- Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
Token Events
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Votes and calls on governance
- Unlocks
- Token Launches
Conferences
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
Market movements
- BTC is down 1.67% from 4 p.m. ET Wednesday at $87,798.68 (24 hours: -2.39%)
- ETH is down 2.5% at $2,941.84 (24 hours: -3.59%)
- CoinDesk 20 is down 2.13% at 2,679.82 (24h: -2.9%)
- Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate Up 1bp to 2.81%
- BTC funding rate is 0.0073% (7.9628% annualized) on Binance
- The DXY is unchanged at 96.44
- Gold futures are up 3.1% at $5,505.70
- Silver futures are up 2.46% at $116.32
- The Nikkei 225 closed unchanged at 53,375.60
- Hang Seng closed 0.51% higher at 27,968.09
- The FTSE is up 0.44% at 10,198.87
- The Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.39% at 5,956.17
- DJIA closed Wednesday unchanged at 49,015.60
- The S&P 500 closed unchanged at 6,978.03
- The Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.17% at 23,857.45
- The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 0.24% at 33,176.07
- The S&P 40 Latin America closed up 1.17% at 3,751.00
- The 10-year US Treasury yield is up 0.4 bps to 4.255%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures unchanged at 7,011.50
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.1% at 26,181.50
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures unchanged at 49,137.00
Bitcoin Statistics
- BTC dominance: 59.65% (0.1%)
- Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.03335 (-1.07%)
- Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 872 EH/s
- Hash price (spot): $39.24
- Total fees: 2.87 BTC / $256,633
- CME Futures Open Interest: 113,020 BTC
- BTC valued in gold: 15.9 ounces.
- BTC vs. gold market capitalization: 5.88%
Technical analysis
- The chart shows daily Bitcoin price fluctuations since November.
- The price declined after being rejected in the face of uptrend line resistance, a technical analysis term for a stable upward trajectory.
- This shifted the focus to support first at $86,000 and then, upon failure, at $84,445.
Crypto Stocks
- Coinbase Global (COIN): Closed Wednesday at $209.43 (-0.66%), -0.9% at $207.54 in pre-market
- Circle Internet (CRCL): closed at $72.84 (+4.12%), -0.91% at $72.18
- Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $31.90 (-3.86%), -0.85% at $31.63
- Bullish (BLSH): closed at $34.33 (-1.35%), -0.17% at $34.27
- MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $10.37 (-1.43%), -1.16% at $10.25
- Riot Platforms (RIOT): close at $17.55 (+0.00%), -0.4% at $17.48
- Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $19.49 (-2.26%), +0.15% to $19.52
- CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $13.45 (+1.36%), -1.49% at $13.25
- CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): Closed at $51.37 (+0.92%)
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $14.33 (-7.43%)
Crypto Cash Companies
- Strategy (MSTR): closed at $158.45 (-1.94%), -0.71% at $157.33
- Strive (ASST): closed at $0.80 (-2.20%), -0.51% at $0.80
- SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $9.97 (-0.2%)
- Upexi (UPXI): closed at $1.96 (-1.01%)
- Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.31 (-0.76%), +0.76% at $1.32
ETF Feed
Spot BTC ETF
- Daily net flows: -$19.6 million
- Cumulative net flows: $56.32 billion
- Total BTC holdings ~1.29 million
ETH Spot ETF
- Daily net flows: $28.1 million
- Cumulative net flows: $12.41 billion
- Total ETH holdings ~6.04 million
Source: Farside Investors
