Bitcoin falls to US$81,300 as gold shines ahead of FOMC meeting 2025

Bitcoin falls to US$81,300 as gold shines ahead of FOMC meeting 2025

The global risk sentiment pulling back ahead of today’s FOMC meeting feels like the market holding its breath, and I can’t help but feel the weight of that tension myself. Investors rushing into safe-haven assets—gold soaring past US$3,030 an ounce, the 10-year US Treasury yield slipping to 4.285 per cent—tells a story of unease but also of resilience in the face of complexity.

Meanwhile, the MSCI US index dropping 1.1 per cent, dragged down by tech giants, and Brent crude sliding to US$71.8 a barrel amid a potential oil glut paint a contrasting picture of vulnerability. Add in Russia’s partial ceasefire, Trump-Putin talks, and a surprising uptick in US economic data, and it’s a lot to process. As a journalist who thrives on digging into the facts, I’m eager to weave these threads together and offer my take on what it all means.

Let’s start with the safe-haven stampede. Gold’s 40 per cent climb over the past year is staggering, and its latest push above US$3,030 an ounce feels like a siren blaring about global fears—economic slowdown, inflation, geopolitical strife, and central banks hoarding the metal like it’s the last lifeboat on a sinking ship.

The 10-year Treasury yield dipping by 2.1 basis points reinforces this flight to safety; investors are willing to accept lower returns for the comfort of US debt. I’ve seen this pattern before in times of uncertainty, like during the 2020 pandemic panic, but what strikes me now is the sheer velocity of gold’s ascent. It’s tempting to call it a bubble—too far, too fast, as some analysts are whispering—but I’m not so sure.

The drivers here are real: central banks like China and India have been buying gold to diversify away from the dollar, and with Russia’s ceasefire talks and Middle East tensions simmering, the geopolitical risk premium isn’t going away anytime soon. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that a correction might loom if the FOMC surprises with a dovish tilt or if global tensions ease more than expected.

On the flip side, the equity markets are showing strain. The MSCI US dropping 1.1 per cent, with tech mega caps leading the charge downhill, suggests that the risk-on exuberance of recent months is cooling. These stocks—think Apple, Nvidia, Amazon—have been the darlings of the bull run, but they’re sensitive to interest rate expectations, and the FOMC meeting is the elephant in the room.

Everyone’s expecting rates to hold steady, but the real action will be in the dot plot and Jerome Powell’s press conference. Will the Fed signal a longer pause or hint at cuts later in 2025? I suspect the upside surprises in US housing starts and industrial production—data points that landed stronger than anticipated—might give Powell room to strike a cautiously optimistic tone.

That could buoy stocks, as hinted by US equity futures pointing to a higher open. But for now, the market’s nerves are palpable, and I’d wager that tech’s decline reflects a broader reassessment of growth bets in an uncertain world.

Geopolitics is the wild card here, and it’s impossible to ignore Russia’s partial ceasefire amid Trump-Putin talks. This development could dial back some of the risk baked into markets, especially in energy.

Brent crude’s 0.8 per cent dip to US$71.8 a barrel puzzled me at first—shouldn’t Middle East tensions push oil higher? But digging deeper, the talk of a global crude glut makes sense. Supply is outpacing demand, and even with sanctions on Russia, their oil keeps flowing, often through creative crypto workarounds I’ll get to later.

A ceasefire, even partial, might stabilise energy markets further, though I’m skeptical it’ll stick without broader diplomatic breakthroughs. Trump’s involvement adds an unpredictable twist—his deal-making style could either calm things down or stir the pot, and I’m leaning toward the latter given his track record.

Europe’s a bright spot that caught my eye. German stocks climbing after parliament approved big spending on defense and infrastructure feels like a lifeline for a region that’s been stuck in neutral. The ZEW survey expectations leaping to 51.6 from 26 in February is the kind of data that makes me sit up—it’s a signal that investor confidence is rebounding, maybe even hinting at a German economic revival. I’ve covered Europe’s stagnation narrative for years, and this feels like a pivot worth watching. Could it mean Europe starts to decouple from US market woes? Possibly, though it’s early days.

Asia, though, is a mixed bag. Indonesia’s JCI index tanking 3.8 per cent over rumours of Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati’s resignation—rumours she’s since squashed—shows how jittery emerging markets can get. Four straight days of declines is brutal, and it’s a reminder that political stability is oxygen for these economies.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan and Bank Indonesia holding pat on rates aligns with the global wait-and-see vibe. Asian equities being mixed in early trading mirrors the indecision I’m seeing everywhere else.

Now, let’s talk gold versus Bitcoin, because this tug-of-war fascinates me. Gold’s red-hot run might be stealing thunder from Bitcoin, which slipped to US$81,300 from US$84,000. A 40 per cent gold surge versus Bitcoin’s more volatile path raises questions about sustainability. I’ve tracked both assets for years, and I see gold’s rally as a fear trade—steady, tangible, a hedge against chaos. Bitcoin, though, is the speculator’s playground, and its dip might reflect profit-taking or a shift in sentiment.

Enter MicroStrategy (MSTR), whose latest move—a Perpetual Strife Preferred Stock (STRF) with a 10 per cent dividend—shows they’re still betting big on Bitcoin. Raising funds to buy more BTC (they added 130 tokens for US$10.7 million last week, bringing their stash to 499,226) is bold, but the pace is slowing, and Wall Street’s enthusiasm might be waning.

MSTR’s stock dropping five per cent Tuesday alongside Bitcoin’s slide tells me the market’s reassessing this strategy. The STRF’s high-yield structure—10 per cent cash dividends, compounding to 18 per cent if unpaid, trading on Nasdaq soon—is clever, offering Bitcoin exposure without direct ownership. But I wonder if this signals desperation or genius as their fundraising spigot tightens.

Geopolitics crashing into crypto is the final piece of this puzzle, and it’s a doozy. Russia using Bitcoin and Ethereum to dodge sanctions—US$192 billion in oil trade rerouted through rupees, yuan, and crypto—is a game-changer. The process is slick: an Indian buyer pays a middleman in rupees, who swaps it for crypto, sends it to Russia, and they cash out in rubles. Sanctions? Skirted.

Reuters’ mid-March reporting nails this trend, and while one Russian exchange got shut down this month after US and EU sanctions, others will pop up. I’ve long argued that crypto’s global reach makes it a double-edged sword—freedom for some, a loophole for others. This isn’t just about Russia; it’s a signal that digital assets are reshaping geopolitics, and regulators are playing catch-up.

So where do I land? The FOMC meeting today is the linchpin—Powell’s words could either soothe or spook markets. Gold’s run feels frothy but grounded in real fears; Bitcoin’s dip is a hiccup, not a collapse. Geopolitics and crypto are intertwining in ways that’ll define the next decade, and Europe’s flicker of hope contrasts with Asia’s stumbles.

 

 

 

Source: https://e27.co/bitcoin-falls-to-us81300-as-gold-shines-ahead-of-fomc-meeting-2025-20250319/

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

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What does the crypto industry expect from the Fed’s meeting?

What does the crypto industry expect from the Fed’s meeting?

Synopsis

The stock market is likely to indicate the outlook for the crypto market. The stock market is having another rough ride, said Anndy Lian, Chairman, BigONE Exchange.​

New Delhi: The global crypto industry is awaiting the outcome of the Fed’s two-day policy meeting, which will be released on Wednesday. The hawkish stance from the Fed and signals of four rate hikes in 2022 has spooked the global markets lately.

With a sharp correction in global equity markets, particularly in tech stocks, the crypto cart followed the carnage and eroded wealth worth $1 trillion from the global crypto market cap.

However, the crypto traders are showing some signs of recovery, but the volumes have remained muted as the traders are eyeing Fed’s commentary on the issue.

Clearly, the Fed intends to curb and pump out the easy money policy. The hawkish view from the US central banks hammered the crypto cart and the top coins saw a big drop in their pricing.

The stock market is likely to indicate the outlook for the crypto market. The stock market is having another rough ride, said Anndy Lian, Chairman, BigONE Exchange.

Market experts believe that the Fed will try to restrain the rising inflation without dismaying the already fragile markets further, without the complete certainty of the success of their plans.

Bill Hughes, Senior Counsel & Director of Global Regulatory Matters, ConsenSys, said: “We should expect the entire world to hold its collective breath while a room of central bankers make decisions that will have ripple effects in all world markets, which is the hallmark of a financial system that crypto believes it can improve upon.”

He specifically expects the Fed to try to walk the very difficult and uncertain line of curbing inflation while not further panicking already nervous markets, he added. “Whether they are successful or not, it’s not completely in their control.”

Michael Terpin, Founder and CEO, Transform Group, a global blockchain advisory company, said that there had been a general climate of investor fear around the eventual tightening of the unprecedented loose monetary policy of the Fed.

“The stock market should bear the brunt of this, as there are no buybacks in crypto,” he added. “Calling everything risk-on or risk-off oversimplifies the markets.”

Impact on the mood of the market
In the short term, if the Fed decides to tighten credit markets, then the tide of investment dollars into crypto might ebb to some degree, which may affect the crypto start-ups that have a harder time fundraising without ubiquitous cheap money.

But in the medium and long term, and with respect to the more attractive investment opportunities in the space, these monetary policy moves will have little to no meaningful effect.

Blockchain technology is here to stay and growing at leaps and bounds, said Hughes from ConsenSys. “This will drive the investments flowing into the space as people and institutions place bets on the industry, building the future of finance and global online culture.”

What should investors do?
The news about the executive order emerged a day after the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) released a discussion paper that explores the pros and cons of creating a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for the US, which seeks public comment through May 20.

“Looking at the timeline, I think investors have to reposition their investment strategies for crypto. This could also mean the rise of the altcoin markets,” said Lian from BigONE.

Crypto investors need to have a long-term outlook and patience, said the market experts. In the short term, crypto markets are poised to show wild volatile swings.

There has never been a period where prices were not higher for Bitcoin four years later, said Terpin. “Stock market investors generally have at least ten-year horizons, and crypto investors need to adopt the same philosophy,” he added.

Controlling and taxing income is every governments’ responsibility and prerogative, and that should have been priced into the market already, said the experts.

We could look at it as something bad — where growth and free-market are being restricted by the Fed or as crypto investing has a big impact on investing and has enough mainstream money invested that it has begun to matter to policymakers, said Pratik Gauri, CEO and Founder, 5ire.

“Both the crypto investing and associated innovation are becoming mainstream. Investing in crypto as a value proposition or a value building vehicle is not going to be affected anytime soon,” he added.

 

 

Original Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/cryptocurrency/what-does-the-crypto-industry-expect-from-the-feds-meeting/articleshow/89136991.cms

 

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

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Korea eSports Industry Association Official Meeting: Pushing Gaming to New Heights with Blockchain

Korea eSports Industry Association Official Meeting: Pushing Gaming to New Heights with Blockchain

The Korea eSports Industry Association (KeIA) held an official meeting to update their core members on the latest work carried out in both the Korean and international markets.

KeIA aims to revitalize the eSports industry, protect the rights of esports players and create win-win cooperation and synergies between members of the Association and their affiliations.

Chairman of KeIA, Bong Kyu Park welcomed everyone to the meeting and looked forward to a pleasant and exciting year ahead for the esports scene in South Korea. “South Korea has been one of the most active in eSports. We took part and won many international tournaments. This year, I will lead KeIA together with my Secretary General James Kim promoting eSports and getting ourselves connected to new markets. We are not just a Korean Association, we are international with existing partners in China, Singapore, Vietnam and beyond.”

Deputy Secretary General Tae Yoon Kim told our Blockcast.cc reporter: “I am particularly interested in reaching out to the European markets. For this meeting, we invited foreign guests to share their experiences with us. We want to explore how blockchain technology can help us promote esports more effectively. We want to build the market together and spread the esports Korean culture globally.”

“Thank you to Chairman Park for the invitation. As a blockchain gaming platform, we allow gamers to communicate with other gamers, manage their digital gaming assets and be rewarded with GMRX tokens for allowing our platform to use their GPU power. This is the power of our gaming platform. You can find out more at www.gaimin.io and the mining plugin will be launched to the public for download very soon.” said Clive Aroskin, COO of Gaimin.io, who gave a speech during the meeting. He also shared how their IEO with Biconomy had introduced global gamers to the platform and he hopes to share their experiences with the Association.

Anndy Lian who is an active member in the Korean technology community is being appointed as the Chairman for Singapore at KeIA: “I believe that blockchain technology and the usage of cryptocurrencies will transform the eSports industry as it opens up new global communities for the games to grow. Blockchain is the future of esports, it helps to fill up existing issues and gaps like payment along with bridging online and offline assets. As the chairman, I want to bring my international experiences to the KeIA and connect the KeIA to global companies and players.”

According to Statista, the eSports industry will reach USD1.79 billion in 2022, while blockchain technology revenues are expected to climb to over USD23.3 billion in size by 2023. A combination of both industries will produce revenues in the trillions of dollars over the coming years.

eSports will be the new growth engine to lead innovation in the economic world during this Fourth Industrial Revolution. For more information about KeIA, go to http://e-keia.com/.

Media Contact:

Company: Blockcast.cc
Media Contact: Jenny Zheng
Title: Editor
Contact Number: +65 9883 2707
Email: contact@blockcast.cc
Country: South Korea

 

Original Source:

https://blockcast.cc/press-releases/korea-esports-industry-association-official-meeting-pushing-gaming-to-new-heights-with-blockchain/

 

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

j j j