Over the weekend, the crypto market experienced heavy losses as Bitcoin and Ethereum crashed following the second assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump.
At the time of writing, BTC fell 2.1% to $58,950 and Ethereum fell 4.2% to $2,315 in European trading on Monday.
The shooting happened at the Republican candidate's Trump International Golf Club in Florida. According to CNN, the Secret Service fired shots after seeing a rifle barrel sticking out of bushes on the golf course. A suspect was arrested that day. The FBI continued its investigation into the incident, adding geopolitical uncertainty to an already volatile market environment.
Ahead of a key monetary policy decision by the US Federal Reserve this week, Bernstein's report on Monday said the focus should be on rebuilding the DeFi credit markets on the Ethereum mainnet.
Bernstein said, “With a reduction in prices around the corner, the DeFi product looks attractive again. This could be a catalyst to reset the crypto credit markets and renew interest in DeFi and Ethereum.”
The analysts added that the rebuilding of DeFi credit markets on the Ethereum mainnet could bring large whales and institutional investors back into the crypto credit markets and this could be a catalyst to stop Ethereum's underperformance relative to Bitcoin.
“Unlike Bitcoin, which is a store of value and driven by demand/supply, Ethereum's growth is driven by the use of the underlying network, and DeFi markets are the biggest leverage on Ethereum,” the analysts said.
As of September 13, data from Soso Value Data reflected renewed institutional interest in crypto ETFs, particularly bitcoin derivatives.
Fidelity's Bitcoin ETF ( FBTC ) saw $102.09 million in revenue, while Grayscale's ( GBTC ) recorded $6.66 million. Ethereum-related ETHs showed mixed results, with Grayscale (ETHE) experiencing outflows of $7.36 million, while BlackRock (ETHA) posted net inflows of $3.67 million.
As the third quarter draws to a close, the crypto market is headed for a critical week. The Federal Reserve's interest rate decision is highly anticipated on Wednesday, with markets divided on the possibility of a 25 or 50 basis point rate cut.
Other key events include the Bank of Japan's first meeting since raising borrowing costs, scheduled for Friday, the US's first jobless claims report on Thursday and the Bank of England's rate decision on Thursday.
“Bitcoin's 3% drop comes amid investor uncertainty following Trump's assassination attempt, resulting in over $116M in turnover,” P42 co-founder and CEO Avinash Shekhar told Decrypt. All eyes now turn to the Fed's interest rate decision.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
Daily Debrief Newspaper
Start every day with top news stories, plus original features, podcasts, videos and more.
