By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless otherwise noted)
They said bitcoin has a dual appeal: first, as a gold-like digital token with a limited supply of 21 million, and second, as a decentralized technology that allows anyone to move money transparently and without intermediaries.
At the moment, it is unable to maintain itself as a store of value or as a payment infrastructure. Bitcoin’s poor performance relative to gold, silver, and other precious metals is well documented.
Equally disappointing is the slowdown in on-chain activity to levels last seen in mid-2025. For example, the 30-day average of confirmed daily payments processed on the Bitcoin blockchain has fallen to 748,368, the lowest since mid-July, according to data source Blockchain.com. The figure peaked at more than 884,000 in September. A payment means that recipients receive funds through a chain transaction.
The monthly average number of confirmed transactions shows a similar drop in network usage. The mempool, or “memory pool,” where unconfirmed transactions wait for miners to verify them, has also been depleted. It is stuck at just a few thousand unconfirmed transactions per day, a trend that has continued since the end of 2025.
“On-chain signals point to a market consolidating rather than accumulating. Network activity has softened. Reduced institutional and retail conviction can be seen in lower active addresses and moderate trading volumes,” Vikram Subburaj, CEO of India-based exchange Giottus, said in an email.
The price of a token is tied to active adoption by users of its parent network, and the recent decline in activity explains, at least partially, the dull performance of BTC prices in recent months.
Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency by market value, has fallen back to $87,500 after hitting highs above $90,000 ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting. The central bank left interest rates unchanged, as expected. Chairman Jerome Powell’s accompanying policy statement and press conference suggested policymakers could be more cautious about rate cuts in the coming months.
With BTC falling, the featured sectors from earlier this week are now in the red. For example, the CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) is down more than 9% in the last 24 hours. The Metaverse Select (MTVS) and Culture & Entertainment indices are each down more than 5%.
Meanwhile, gold tokens PAXG and XAUT traded higher, benefiting from the continued rally in gold spot prices. Worldcoin’s WLD rose 5%.
In traditional markets, oil prices rose to four-month highs on both sides of the Atlantic, threatening to inject inflation into the global economy. A renewed energy-driven inflationary push could make it even harder for the Federal Reserve to cut rates next time. Stay alert!
Read more: For an analysis of current activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today
What to watch
For a more complete list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Crypto
- Macro
- January 29, 8:30 am: US Trade Balance for November (was $331.4 billion)
- January 29, 8:30 am: US Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending January 24 (was 200K)
- Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
symbolic events
For a more complete list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Governance votes and calls
- Unlock
- Token releases
Conferences
For a more complete list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
Market movements
- BTC is down 1.67% since 4pm ET Wednesday to $87,798.68 (24 hours: -2.39%)
- ETH is down 2.5% to $2,941.84 (24 hours: -3.59%)
- CoinDesk 20 is down 2.13% to 2,679.82 (24 hours: -2.9%)
- Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate rises 1bp to 2.81%
- BTC funding rate is 0.0073% (7.9628% annualized) on Binance
- DXY remains unchanged at 96.44
- Gold futures rise 3.1% to $5,505.70
- Silver futures rise 2.46% to $116.32
- The Nikkei 225 closed unchanged at 53,375.60
- Hang Seng closed up 0.51% at 27,968.09
- The FTSE rises 0.44% to 10,198.87
- The Euro Stoxx 50 rises 0.39% to 5,956.17
- DJIA closed Wednesday unchanged at 49,015.60
- The S&P 500 closed unchanged at 6,978.03
- Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.17% at 23,857.45
- S&P/TSX Composite closed up 0.24% at 33,176.07
- The S&P 40 Latin America closed with an increase of 1.17% to 3,751.00
- The 10-year US Treasury rate rises 0.4 basis points to 4.255%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures unchanged at 7,011.50
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures rise 0.1% to 26,181.50
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average index 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 priced in gold: 15.9 oz.
- BTC market capitalization against gold: 5.88%
Technical analysis
- The chart shows daily bitcoin price swings since November.
- The price has declined after facing rejection from the uptrend line resistance, a technical analysis term for a steady upward path.
- That has shifted the focus to support first at $86,000, followed by and then, if it fails, at $84,445.
Crypto Stocks
- Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Wednesday at $209.43 (-0.66%), -0.9% at $207.54 in premarket
- Circle Internet (CRCL): closed at $72.84 (+4.12%), -0.91% to $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): closed at $17.55 (+0.00%), -0.4% at $17.48
- Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $19.49 (-2.26%), +0.15% at $19.52
- CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $13.45 (+1.36%), -1.49% to $13.25
- CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $51.37 (+0.92%)
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $14.33 (-7.43%)
Crypto treasury 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 Flows
BTC Spot ETF
- Daily net flows: -$19.6 million
- Accumulated net flows: $56.32 billion
- Total BTC holdings ~1.29 million
ETH Spot ETF
- Daily net flows: $28.1 million
- Accumulated net flows: $12.41 billion
- Total ETH holdings ~6.04 million
Source: Farside Investors
