- Cryptocurrencies are set to have a busy week after surging in the past few weeks.
- The US will publish the latest inflation data on Tuesday.
- The Federal Reserve will deliver the latest interest rate decision on Wednesday.
Cryptocurrency and stock prices are bracing for an important week after going through strong performance in the past few months. Most cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Solana, Avalanche (AVAX), Seedify (SFUND) have jumped sharply in the past few weeks.
In all, the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies has jumped to over $1.6 trillion. Here’s why this week will be an important week for all cryptocurrencies and even stocks.
US inflation and Fed
The biggest two stories of this week will be the actions of the Federal Reserve and the latest US consumer inflation data set for Wednesday and Tuesday. Economists expect the data to show that the country’s inflation continued easing in November.
Precisely, they expect the data to show that the headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) retreated from 3.2% in October to 3.1% in November. This decline happened as the prices of key goods like gasoline, furniture, and other durables continued falling. Gasoline prices has crashed to the lowest level in over two years.
These numbers will come a few days after the US released strong jobs numbers. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.7% as the economy added over 190k jobs. These numbers mean that the Federal Reserve is achieving its goal of engineering a soft landing for the economy.
A soft landing is a situation where the bank succeeds in bringing inflation down by hiking rates and quantitative tightening (QT) without causing a recession. It has already pushed inflation from 9.1% in 2022 to 3.2%.
The other important event will be the upcoming Federal Reserve interest rate decision. While the bank will certainly leave rates unchanged, its statement will set the tone for what to expect in the coming year. Analysts believe that the bank will start cutting rates in the first half of the year.
In most cases, cryptocurrencies tend to do well in periods when the Fed is cutting interest rates. We saw that during the Bitcoin and altcoin season in 2021.
The other key driver for these coins will be the potential for a Santa Claus rally, which happens towards Christmas day.
Avalanche, Seedify, Hivemapper in focus
Some of the three cryptocurrencies to watch are Avalanche (AVAX), Seedify (SFUND), and Hivemapper. Avalanche has surged hard in the past few days, helped by the robustness of its ecosystem. Some of its key dApps like BENQI and Trader Joe (JOE) have surged by more than 100% in the past few days. As a result, AVAX is one of the top trending cryptocurrencies in key social media platforms like Twitter and StockTwits.
Read more: How to buy Avalanche.
Seedify.fund’s SFUND token has surged, as I predicted here. It jumped to a high of $4.6951, which was 765% from the lowest point this year. Seedify is a platform that acts as an incubator for other blockchain projects.
The other token to watch will be Hivemapper (HONEY), which has also surged. The platform is attempting to disrupt the mapping industry that is dominated by Google and Microsoft. In a recent note, VanEck analysts noted that Hivemapper and Helium could be the key DePin networks to watch in 2024. The statement said:
“This global network of permissionless contributors may give Hivemapper a meaningful speed and cost-of-capital advantage relative to the incumbent Google. Google Maps is projected to make more than $11bn in revenue in 2023, representing a meaningful opportunity for Hivemapper if the experiment is successful.”
