All Eyes on Trump Inauguration & SUI Hits Record Highs

Bitcoin

BTC

PRICE (14D)

$149,870.00
(-2.7%)

Ethereum

ETH

PRICE (14D)

$5,216.00
(-2.3%)

Solana

SOL

PRICE (14D)

$302.30
(-0.1%)

Prices in AUD and as of 1:00pm AEDT on Jan. 10, 2025

Potential Reasons For Soft Start To 2025

Recent U.S. economic data likely contributed to the recent sell-off in crypto markets. In short, a number of economic reports showed the economy and inflation have been stronger than markets and the central bank expected. This matters because it may cause the central bank to scrap plans to cut rates multiple times throughout 2025. (Historically, crypto has performed better during low-interest-rate environments.)

Worth highlighting, this selling follows a strong couple of months for crypto in the wake of Donald Trump's November victory and increased hope of a friendlier regulatory environment in the U.S.

Date to Watch: January 20

Donald Trump will be sworn in as the next U.S. president on January 20. In the days following this event, known as Inauguration Day, many will be monitoring whether the Trump administration shares any additional information on its plans to promote the adoption of crypto.

In particular, many will be closely watching whether Trump sheds light on his election promise to not sell any BTC held by the U.S. government. Specifically, at the Bitcoin 2024 conference last July, the president-elect said the following:

“I am announcing that if I am elected, it will be the policy of my administration, United States of America, to keep 100% of all the bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds or acquires into the future, we'll keep 100%...This will serve, in effect, as the core of the strategic national bitcoin stockpile.”

January 20 will also mark Gary Gensler’s departure as chair of the SEC. Under Gensler, the SEC has widely been viewed as hostile towards the crypto industry.

XRP Avoids Heavy Sell-Off

XRP largely avoided the recent sell-off, partially because Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple Labs, shared a photo of himself standing with Trump and Stuart Alderoty, the chief legal counsel at Ripple Labs, late last week. This photo fuelled speculation that the incoming Trump administration may be forming a working relationship with Ripple Labs. (Please note, this is only speculation at the time of writing.)

XRP’s dominance—that is, XRP’s market cap relative to the combined market cap of all cryptocurrencies—jumped to 4.5% in the midst of this news, its highest level in more than four years. Since the election in early November, this dominance percentage has more than tripled from 1.2%.

Sui Reaches Fresh All-Time Highs

On January 7, Sui (SUI) hit an all-time high of $8.65 ($5.35 USD), continuing its momentum after climbing by 432% in 2024. Sui is a high-performance blockchain that competes closely with blockchains such as Solana (SOL) and Aptos (APT).