The momentum in the crypto industry faded last week after the US published strong non-farm payroll (NFP) data. Bitcoin, which found a strong barrier at $72,000, retreated sharply to below $69,000 during the weekend. Similarly, other big tokens like Ethereum, Solana, and Cardano took a strong dive.
Kendu Inu, Apu Apustaja rise
This decline happened as investors adjusted their outlook for the Federal Reserve rate cuts after the economy created over 272k jobs in March, beating the consensus estimate of 182k. As a result, analysts now expect that the Fed will leave rates higher for longer this year, which is often a bad thing for risky assets like cryptocurrencies.
Still, not all cryptocurrencies retreated. Kendu Inu ($KENDU), a new meme coin jumped to a record high, giving it a market cap of over $202 million. It has soared by almost 50% in the past 24 hours.
This jump happened as more investors bought the token as evidenced by the soaring volume. Data by CoinGecko shows that the volume jumped to over $12 million in the past 24 hours, higher than the previous day’s $8 million.
Meanwhile, the Apu Apustaja (APU), another meme coin, jumped to over $0.000485 on Monday, giving it a market cap of more than $155 million, Its 24-hour trading volume stood at almost $12 million on Monday.
Other mem coins like Minu, Super Trump (STRUMP), ChompCoin, and Keyboard Cat were among the best performers in the crypto market.
Federal Reserve decision ahead
Looking ahead, the next important catalyst to watch will come out on Wednesday when the Federal Reserve concludes its two-day meeting and delivers its decision. Most analysts expect another hawkish pause as the bank focuses on the elevated inflation.
Recent data showed that the headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to 3.5% in April, much higher than the Fed’s target of 2.0%. Therefore, officials will want more evidence that inflation is falling before starting to cut interest rates.
Meme coins have emerged as some of the best-performing cryptocurrencies this year. Some notable ones like Floki and Pepe have jumped to a record high, turning many people into millionaires. All in all, the total market cap of all meme coins has jumped to over $62 billion this year.
Memecoins have also been helped by the performance of most meme stocks in the United States after the return of Roaring Kitty. Companies like GameStop, AMC Entertainment, and Clover Health have jumped sharply in the past few weeks. GME erased some of those gains after the company published weak financial results on Friday.
