Ethereum Jumps 10% as Bitcoin and Crypto Markets Stage Mini Rally

Top cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum posted overnight gains following the Fed's rate hike, amid weakened on-chain user activity.

By Sujith Somraaj

BTC and ETH. 

Cryptocurrencies have rallied following the announcement of a 75 basis point hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve. With inflation in the U.S. soaring past 8.6% in May 2022, the Fed made the the most aggressive rate hike in 28 years yesterday.

Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is up 5.7% over the past 24 hours and is currently hovering around $21,400, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, has gained 10.9% in the last 24 hours and is currently changing hands for around $1,140.

The global cryptocurrency market capitalization is up 6.76% to $921.5 billion over the past 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Apart from Bitcoin and Ethereum, Solana (18.12%) and Polkadot (11.50%) (20.61%) have also posted double-digit gains over the past 24 hours.

However, those gains have not been enough to offset losses from the recent crypto crash, with Bitcoin down 30% on the week and Ethereum down 37% in the same period. Bitcoin is down over 68% from its all-time high of $69,000 recorded in November 2021; Ethereum has shed 76% from its all-time high of $4,891 in the same month.

Over $406 million has been liquidated in the crypto market over the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinGlass.

Ethereum leads liquidations with $160 million liquidated, closely followed by Bitcoin with $131 million and Solana with $8.8 million over the same period of time.

Slumping DeFi activity

Irrespective of today’s price rally, on-chain activity across blockchains remains stagnant.

According to DefiLlama, Total Value Locked (TVL) across all the blockchains is down 2.2% in the last 24 hours.

TVL on Ethereum slipped 2.55% to $49.3 billion over the last day. Tron leads gains in TVL, with a 3.66% increase over the same period of time.

Overall NFT trading volumes on Ethereum, Solana, Binance Smart Chain and Flow are down at least 10% over the past 24 hours, per data from CryptoSlam.

Outside the crypto market, stock markets across the globe are in the red during today’s trading hours. The UK’s FTSE index is down 1.45%, Germany’s DAX index is down 2.08%, France’s CAC index is down 1.63%, and India’s Sensex index is down 1.66%.