Bitcoin, Ethereum Sink After Another Trump Assassination Attempt and Ahead of Interest Rate Decision

The crypto market saw significant losses as Bitcoin and Ethereum fell following a second assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend.

At the time of writing, BTC has fallen 2.1% to $58,950 levels and Ethereum dropping around 4.2% to $2,315 levels in Monday’s European trading session.

The gun incident occurred at the Republican nominee’s Florida-based Trump International Golf Club. CNN reported that Secret Service fired shots after seeing a rifle barrel sticking out of a bush on the golf course. Later that day, a suspect was detained. The FBI is continuing its investigation into the incident, adding geopolitical uncertainty to an already volatile market environment.

Amid the anticipation of a crucial monetary policy decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve later this week, a Bernstein report on Monday stated that the focus should be on rebuilding DeFi lending markets on the Ethereum mainnet.

“With a rate cut likely around the corner, DeFi yields look attractive again. This could be the catalyst to reboot crypto credit markets and revive interest in DeFi and Ethereum,” Bernstein stated.

The analysts added that rebuilding the DeFi lending markets on the Ethereum mainnet could bring back large whales and institutional investors to the crypto credit markets and this might be the catalyst to stem the Ethereum underperformance relative to Bitcoin.

“Unlike Bitcoin, which is a store of value and driven by demand/supply, Ethereum growth is led by usage of the underlying network, and DeFi markets are the largest use-case on Ethereum,” the analysts stated.

As of September 13, data from SoSo Value data reflected renewed institutional interest in crypto ETFs, especially Bitcoin products.

Fidelity’s Bitcoin ETF (FBTC) saw $102.09 million in inflows, while Grayscale’s (GBTC) recorded $6.66 million. Ethereum-related ETFs showed mixed results, with Grayscale’s (ETHE) experiencing a $7.36 million outflow, contrasted by Blackrock’s (ETHA) posting a net inflow of $3.67 million.

The crypto market is bracing for a crucial week ahead as the third quarter comes to a close. The Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision on Wednesday is highly anticipated, with markets divided on the possibility of a 25 or 50 basis point rate cut.

Other key events include the Bank of Japan’s first meeting since raising borrowing costs, scheduled for Friday, U.S. initial jobless claims data on Thursday, and the U.K. Bank of England rate decision on Thursday.

Avinash Shekhar, Co-Founder and CEO of Pi42, told Decrypt, “Bitcoin’s 3% drop comes amid investor uncertainty following the Trump assassination attempt, leading to over $116M in liquidations. All eyes now turn to the Fed’s interest rate decision.”

Edited by Stacy Elliott.