5 min readBitcoin is rebounding on Friday snapping a three day losing streak, although the largest cryptocurrency by market cap is still set for weekly losses in the region of 3.5%.
Bitcoin has tracked risk assets lower across the week as traders favoured safe havens such as gold and the US dollar amid heightened economic uncertainty. Meanwhile reports the Department of Justice had received approval to sell $6.5 billion worth of Bitcoin confiscated from the Silk Road black market also dampened the mood across the week.
Still, losses have been stemmed by optimism surrounding a more crypto-friendly environment with Trump’s inauguration in 10 days.
How might the NFP affect Bitcoin?
The mood remains cautious ahead of closely watched US jobs data, which could provide clarity over the Federal Reserve’s future path for interest rates. Expectations are for 164k jobs added in December and unemployment to remain at 4.2%. Average hourly earnings are expected to ease to 0.3% MoM. Strong jobs data could dampen rate-cut expectations this year and keep BTC under pressure.
After a series of strong data this week and hawkish Fed minutes, the market is only pricing in one rate cut in 2025.
Where next for Ethereum amid Trump support & Pectra upgrade?
Ethereum has fallen almost 10% this week in a rough start to 2025 leaving investors questioning whether ETH can recover towards 4k.
While the near-term technical picture is at a key junction, the longer-term outlook appears brighter. The incoming Trump administration is expected to create a more crypto-friendly environment and increase the adoption of Laer 2 solutions. Meanwhile, the Petra upgrade expected in Q1 is expected to bring a fundamental shift in how Ethereum operates.
What is the Pectra upgrade?
The upgrade is expected to improve network functionality, boost scalability, and increase user safety. One key improvement is that Pectra will allow apps to better replicate services banks and other money-transmitting services offer, such as scheduling payments. It will also become safer by introducing ways for users to recover wallets should they lose the private keys.
The Petra update will also lay the groundwork for Merkle Trees, a future improvement that is expected to vastly increase the decentralisation and resilience of the network by enabling users to run Ethereum nodes on their mobiles.
If successful, the Pectra update could give Ethereum a much-needed boost. While the timeline is set for Q1 2025, delays are not uncommon. The update was previously scheduled for late 2024.
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