Market News

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

They said bitcoin has a dual appeal: first, as a gold-like digital token with a capped supply of 21 million, and second, as a decentralized technology that allows anyone to move money transparently without intermediaries.

As of now, it's failing to hold up as both a store of value and a payments infrastructure. Bitcoin's underperformance relative 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 instance, the 30-day average of daily confirmed payments processed on the Bitcoin blockchain has dropped to 748,368, the lowest since mid-July, according to data source Blockchain.com. The tally peaked at over 884,000 in September. A payment means 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 dried up too. It's stuck at just a few thousand unconfirmed transactions per day, a trend that's dragged on since late 2025.

"On-chain signals point to a market in consolidation rather than accumulation. Network activity has softened. The reduced institutional and retail conviction can be seen in lower active addresses and subdued transaction volumes," Vikram Subburaj, CEO of the India-based Giottus exchange, said in an email.

A token's price is tied to the active user adoption of its parent network, and the recent decline in activity at least partially explains BTC's dull price performance 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 Fed meeting. The central bank kept interest rates unchanged, as expected. The accompanying policy statement and Chairman Jerome Powell's press conference suggested policymakers could be more cautious about rate cuts in the coming months.

With BTC's turn lower, standout sectors from early this week are now deep in the red. For instance, the CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) has declined by more than 9% over the past 24 hours. The Metaverse Select (MTVS) and Culture and Entertainment indexes are down over 5% each.

Meanwhile, gold tokens PAXG and XAUT traded higher, drawing strength from the continued rally in spot gold 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-led inflationary impulse could make it even harder for the Fed to reduce rates next time. Stay alert!