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First Mover Americas: Bitcoin Pushes Above $29K After Fed Rate Hike
The latest price moves in crypto markets in context for May 4, 2023.
Updated May 4, 2023, 3:57 p.m. Published May 4, 2023, 12:21 p.m.
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This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.
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Bitcoin has pushed above $29,000 following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s 25 basis point interest rate hike on Thursday, with some analysts speculating on a strong break to the upside after over a month of trade in a narrow wedge. The move over $29,000 came a few hours after the Fed hike as a report indicated another U.S. bank failure could soon be at hand. Crypto services provider Matrixport has said that if Thursday’s rate rise proves to be the last of this cycle, bitcoin could rally 20% to $36,000. Despite trading volumes declining slightly, the “path higher sees only limited resistance,” Matrixport said in a research note on Thursday. The end of the recent earning season will see stock buybacks restart, which will “continue to be a tailwind for stocks and risk assets,” the note added.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decided not to include a definition of digital assets in its latest hedge fund ruling, in what could have been a sign of positive intent toward clearer regulation of the crypto sector. The SEC had included the definition of assets that “use distributed ledger or blockchain technology,” in its 2022 proposal to overhaul mandatory disclosures for hedge funds, but has now pulled that wording. The agency said it is “continuing to consider this term and [is] not adopting ‘digital assets’ as part of this rule at this time.” Anne-Marie Kelley, a former SEC official and now a partner at Mercury Strategies, suggested the commission may have deleted it as “any recognition of digital assets’ uniqueness weakens their litigation stance that digital assets are securities.”
The WallStreetBets token (WSB), which is linked to the WallStreetBets subreddit, dropped 90% in the last 24 hours following a big run higher that had seen its market cap jump to $50 million in under three days. The plunge came after one of the insiders connected to the project, @zjzWSB, dumped a large amount of tokens in return for 334 ETH ($635,000). Blockchain sleuth @ZachXBT flagged the transactions on Twitter, which seemed to trigger the mass selling, bringing about the 90% crash. Users had previously received an airdrop of nearly seven ether worth of WSB tokens for simply pasting their crypto wallet addresses on Twitter. This helped the tokens go viral on Crypto Twitter, forming part of the ongoing meme coin frenzy, which has also spawned the likes of PEPE.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Bitcoin stuck near $88,000 as gold's and silver's record-breaking rallies show exhaustion signs
"Gold and silver casually adding an entire bitcoin market cap in a single day," wrote one crypto analyst.
What to know:
- Bitcoin is off its worst levels of the weekend, but still near the year's low at $87,700.
- Facing the same news cycle as crypto, precious metals continued to surge higher, but a quick retreat from their highs on Monday suggested a bit of exhaustion was setting in.
- Analysts remain dour on the outlook for crypto prices given the looming government shutdown as well as delays in passage of the Clarity Act.
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