Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged but Global Markets and Bitcoin Slide: This Week’s Crypto Recap

Another seven days have passed and, unfortunately, they weren’t any better than the week before. Traditional and cryptocurrency markets are tumbling, despite the US Federal Reserve leaving rates unchanged and increasing the country’s debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion.

Bitcoin was headed well into the green last weekend when the price surpassed $50,000 on Sunday. This gave the community some relief and also brought hope that it’s time for a recovery rally. Bears had a mind of their own, though, and as soon as they intervened, everything turned red. On Monday, BTC plummeted towards $46K.

On December 14th and 15th, though, the US Fed had a meeting, and Congress voted to once again increase the country’s debt ceiling while leaving the rates unchanged. This initially had a positive impact on Bitcoin’s price, which rallied towards $50K. Everything ended abruptly, though, as not long after that, the cryptocurrency headed south again. At press time, BTC trades around $46,500, down 2.4% in the past seven days. Global markets have also tumbled over the past five days as the Nasdaq Composite index is down 2.5%, while the S& 500 is down 1.2%.

The altcoin market is also deep in the red. Bitcoin performed better than a lot of altcoins. Ethereum is down 7.6%, BNB is down 8.4%, SOL – 2.5%, XRP -7.5%, DOT -7.1%, and so forth. Avalanche is the best performer, as AVAX surged a whopping 28.4% in the past week.

It remains interesting to see how the market will turn over the coming days as we enter the season of the Christmas Holidays, which is historically bullish for BTC.

Market Data

Market Cap: $2,273B | 24H Vol: 120B | BTC Dominance: 38.6%

BTC: $46,490 (-2.4%) | ETH: $3,846 (-7.6%) | ADA: $1.23 (-5.1%)

ConsenSys Partners With Mastercard To Launch Rollups For EVM Blockchains. ConesnSys – one of the leading companies in the field of blockchain tech – has launched ConsenSys Rollups – a collaboration with the payment processing giant MasterCard. The solution is aimed at providing scalability and privacy to blockchains compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

Billionaire Ray Dalio Says Bitcoin is the Alternative to Gold for Younger Generations. Ray Dalio, who used to be quite skeptical of Bitcoin, has changed his tone notably. He recently noted that the cryptocurrency represents an alternative to gold to younger generations. He also said that it might have no intrinsic value, but it has imputed value, and it has some merit.

US Congress Votes to Up Debt Ceiling by $2.5 Trillion, What Does it Mean for Bitcoin? The US has increased its debt ceiling once again, which brings little surprise as it hasn’t failed to do so on every occasion in history. However, we take a closer look at what this might mean for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market, in general.

Bitcoin Under $40K a Buy, US Dollar Going to Zero, Says Kraken CEO, Jesse Powell. According to the CEO of Kraken, Jesse Powell, Bitcoin under $40K represents a buying opportunity. He also lashed out against the US Dollar, saying that it is going to zero in terms of its value. This comes amid a broader market pullback where BTC is struggling below $50K.

Circle’s USDC Goes Live on Avalanche to Empower the DeFi Ecosystem. Circle’s USDC – the second-largest stablecoin on the market – went live on Avalanche’s blockchain. The main purpose behind the move is to enable developers and communities to further engage with eco-friendly platforms and to properly accelerate the adoption of DeFi.

Elon Musk Argues Dogecoin Better Suited for Payments Than Bitcoin. Elon Musk was named TIME Magazine’s person of the year. During his interview, he argued that Dogecoin is better suited for payments than Bitcoin, citing higher and cheaper transaction throughput as predominant reasons.

Charts

This week we have a chart analysis of Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Polkadot, and Polygon – click here for the full price analysis.