Crypto’s rough day sets giants into ‘plunge protection’ mode

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

The crypto market’s beating on Thursday spurred industry heavyweights into “plunge protection” mode, a term for coordinated moves to steady a sinking ship.

As bitcoin neared $81,000, the lowest since November, and analysts warned of a deeper drop, Binance sprang into action. The largest crypto exchange by volume traded said it will switch its user protection fund into bitcoin from stablecoins and, more importantly, buy BTC to replenish the fund back to $1 billion if the value fell below $800 million.

Crypto billionaire and Tron founder Justin Sun acknowledged Binance’s effort, announcing on X that Tron will also buy more bitcoin in the future.

These moves are likely aimed at calming market nerves and, potentially, putting a floor under BTC prices. But traditional markets teach us that such efforts can be overpowered by broader forces. For instance, how many times has the Bank of Japan’s intervention failed to stem the yen’s slide?

In other words, the market needs a clear bullish catalyst to stabilize and the odds appear stacked against that. Dollar liquidity is tightening, as noted by Maelstrom CIO Arthur Hayes, and the rise of Kevin Warsh, a former hawkish Fed official who cited inflation risks after the 2008 crash, as a preferred candidate for the central bank’s chairmanship, is seen as a generally adverse development for BTC and other risk assets. Still, although a hawk, Warsh has on occasion spoken positively about bitcoin and has had investments in crypto adjacent projects in the past.

Bitcoin has shown no respite so far. It recently traded near $82,700, slightly up from overnight lows, but still down over 6% on a 24-hour basis. Other major tokens, ether ETH$2,742.63XRP XRP$1.7626solana SOL$113.80, DOGE$0.1130and BNB BNB$845.99posted similar losses.

At the same time, BTC’s market dominance slipped to 59.16%. This might signal altcoins’ relative resilience from underlying demand, setting them up for a big move higher once sentiment stabilizes. But that’s not necessarily true: Altcoins underperformed throughout bitcoin’s bull run from early 2023 to October 2025, with limited participation, it might be they’re simply holding up better as the bull market unravels.

In traditional markets, precious metals like gold and silver, plus industrial copper, have pulled back sharply from record highs. Analysts noted earlier this month that once these trends run out of steam, money could rotate back to crypto. We’ll see if that plays out. Stay alert!

Read more: For analysis of today’s activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today

What to WatchFor a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead”.

• Crypto
  • Nothing scheduled.
• Macro
  • January 30, 5 am: European Economic Area GDP growth rate YoY (Flash) for Q4 (Prev. 1.4%), QoQ (Flash) (Prev. 0.3%)
  • January 30, 8:30 am: US PPI YoY for December (Prev. 3%), Core PPI YoY (Prev. 3%)
• Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
  • Nothing scheduled.

Token EventsFor a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead”.

• Governance votes & calls
  • January 30: Conflux Network to host its quarterly community call.
  • GMX DAO is voting on a two-year funding framework for GMX Labs, establishing an annual operating budget of $7 million–$9 million sourced from V2 protocol fees. Voting ends Jan. 30.
• Unlocks
  • January 30: KMNO$0.03747 to unlock 3.68% of its circulating supply worth $11.22 million.
  • February 1: SUI$1.2871 to unlock 1.15% of its circulating supply worth $65.29 million.
  • February 1: EigenLayer (EIGEN) to unlock 8.88% of its circulating supply worth $12.53 million.
• Token Launches
  • January 30: Kindred Labs (KIN) to be listed on Binance Alpha, KuCoin, and others.
  • February 1: Story Foundation’s planned IP token buyback program ends.

ConferencesFor a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead”.

• Day 3 of 4: WallStreetBets Live (Miami, Florida)
• Day 1 of 2: Plan B Forum (El Salvador)
• Day 1 of 4: CatLumpur 26 (Kuala Lumpur)

Market Movements

• BTC is down 2.49% from 4 pm ET Thursday at $82,293.08 (24hrs: -5.69%)
• ETH is down 3.37% at $2,720.41 (24hrs: -6.45%)
• CoinDesk 20 is down 2.9% at 2,499.34 (24hrs: -5.92%)
• Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is up 6 bps at 2.87%
• BTC funding rate is at 0.0009% (1.0063% annualized) on Binance

• DXY is up 0.33% at 96.60
• Gold futures are down 4.61% at $5,108.00
• Silver futures are down 12.69% at $99.90
• Nikkei 225 closed down 0.1% at 53,322.85
• Hang Seng closed down 2.08% at 27,387.11
• FTSE is up 0.16% at 10,188.28
• Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.58% at 5,926.34
• DJIA closed on Thursday up 0.11% at 49,071.56
• The S&P 500 closed down 0.13% at 6,969.01
• The Nasdaq Composite closed down 0.72% at 23,685.12
• The S&P/TSX Composite closed down 0.48% at 33,016.13
• S&P 40 Latin America closed up 0.24% at 3,760.03
• US 10-Year Treasury rate is up 3 bps at 4.257%
• E-mini S&P 500 futures are down 0.75% at 6,940.50
• E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are down 0.87% at 25,773.75
• E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are down 0.72% at 48,815.00

Bitcoin Stats

• BTC Dominance: 59.29% (-0.09%)
• Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.03305 (-0.85%)
• Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 837 EH/s
• Hash price (spot): $36.83
• Total fees: 2.74 BTC / $236,749
• CME Futures Open Interest: 117.145 BTC
• BTC priced in gold: 16.1 oz.
• BTC vs gold market cap: 5.54%

Technical AnalysisUS 10-year yield. (TradingView)

• The chart shows weekly swings in the 10-year US Treasury yield since late 2024.
• The yield has risen over two basis points to 2.27% this week, testing the bearish trendline characterizing a year-long decline.
• A move past this trendline would confirm what analysts call a bullish breakout — a sign that the downtrend is over and more gains lie ahead.
• Continued hardening of the yield could dent the appeal of stocks and other risky assets.

Crypto Equities

• Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Thursday at $199.18 (-4.89%), -2.63% at $193.95 in pre-market
• Circle Internet (CRCL): closed at $67.55 (-7.26%), -2.16% at $66.09
• Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $29.96 (-6.08%), -3.81% at $28.82
• Bullish (BLSH): closed at $32.66 (-4.86%), -2.63% at $31.80
• MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $9.86 (-4.92%), -3.45% at $9.52
• Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $16.97 (-3.30%), -3.71% at $16.34
• Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $18.84 (-3.34%), -2.97% at $18.28
• CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $12.59 (-6.39%), -4.61% at $12.01
• CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $48.74 (-5.12%), -2.67% at $47.44
• Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $13.98 (-2.44%)

Crypto Treasury Companies

• Strategy (MSTR): closed at $143.19 (-9.63%), -3.45% at $138.25
• Strive (ASST): closed at $0.79 (-2.00%), -2.93% at $0.76
• SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $9.37 (-6.02%), -3.42% at $9.05
• Upexi (UPXI): closed at $1.83 (-6.63%)
• Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.25 (-4.58%)

ETF FlowsSpot BTC ETFs

• Daily net flows: -$817.8 million
• Cumulative net flows: $55.5 billion
• Total BTC holdings ~1.29 million

Spot ETH ETFs

• Daily net flows: -$155.7 million
• Cumulative net flows: $12.26 billion
• Total ETH holdings ~6.05 million

Source: Farside Investors

While You Were Sleeping

• President Donald Trump nominates Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair (CoinDesk): The president confirmed his pick for the central bank position in a Truth Social post. Incumbent Jerome Powell’s term ends in May.
• Barring last-minute nuclear deal, US and Russia teeter on brink of new arms race (Reuters): US and Russia could embark on an unrestrained nuclear arms race for the first time since the Cold War, unless they reach a deal in less than a week.
• US listed bitcoin, ether ETFs bleed nearly $1 billion in a day (CoinDesk): US-listed spot bitcoin and ETFs suffered heavy redemptions, with nearly $1 billion yanked in a single session as crypto prices slid sharply and risk appetite evaporated.
• Gold and Silver Plummet as Traders Price Likely Fed Pick (Bloomberg): Falls across precious metals prices weigh on miners, while a rally across banks supports the FTSE 100. The pound drops as the dollar strengthens and gilt yields edge higher.