Bitcoin prices have fallen around 1% in the past 24 hours, trading close to the $88,000 (£63,690) mark as markets digest the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates steady at Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.
Read more: London stocks rose as traders digested mixed U.S. earnings and the Fed kept interest rates on hold
The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization (BTC-USD) has been trending lower since hitting a local peak of around $97,000 on January 15, with recent weakness due to a broader shift by investors into traditional safe-haven assets.
Read more: Crypto real-time prices
Gold (GC=F) climbed to a record high on Thursday, trading just below $5,600 an ounce, while silver (SI=F) climbed to $120 as investors sought refuge in the precious metal amid renewed geopolitical and economic uncertainty. This shift has been accompanied by a weakening US dollar, which is down 2.13% year to date, reinforcing demand for alternative stores of value.
According to data from CoinGecko, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization currently stands at $3.07 trillion, down 1.1% in the past 24 hours.
Mamadou Kwidjim Toure, founder of fintech platform Ubuntu Tribe, told Yahoo Finance that as the macro environment changes, investors are increasingly reassessing the role of Bitcoin (BTC-USD) in their investment portfolios.
“As the financial landscape evolves, investors are increasingly moving from Bitcoin (BTC-USD) to gold (GC=F), and for good reason,” Touré said.
“Gold has shown extraordinary resilience and continued growth, especially in challenging market conditions. While Bitcoin struggled to deliver on its growth promises last year, gold posted a stunning 72% gain in 2025, surpassing the $5,000 per ounce milestone.”
Read more: Gold prices top $5,500 as dollar weakens
Toure said the shift reflected deeper structural trends rather than a short-term market reaction, pointing to continued central bank demand for physical gold (GC=F).
“In recent years, central banks have systematically accumulated more than 1,000 tons of gold per year,” he said. “Gold is three to three and a half times less volatile than Bitcoin, providing reassurance to investors looking for stability.”
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell after the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates steady on Wednesday, keeping the benchmark federal funds rate in a range of 3.5%–3.75% amid signs of weakness in the labor market.
Fabian Dori, chief investment officer at Sygnum Bank, said the meeting confirmed a holding pattern rather than signaling a meaningful policy shift.
Read more: Will Bitcoin price drop to $50,000 or surge to $125,000 in 2026?
“With economic growth remaining strong, inflation only gradually moderating, and the labor market stable, the Fed kept interest rates on hold and reiterated its data-dependent, meeting-by-meeting approach,” Dory told Yahoo Finance. “So the focus is no longer on the decision itself, but how confident the Fed is about the path forward.”
He added that the Fed’s decision was always more likely to strengthen consolidation rather than trigger decisive market moves, and political pressure was now emerging as a potential future risk.
“What will be interesting to watch next is whether the growing political suspense surrounding the Fed’s independence begins to manifest more clearly in the Fed’s communications and how markets price policy risks,” Dory said.
Wenny Cai, chief operating officer of decentralized derivatives exchange Synfutures, said the Fed’s pause reflects a recognition that financial conditions have tightened, prompting a broader repricing of risk assets.
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“The result is a shift toward commodities and real assets, while speculative growth trades have declined,” Cai said. “Capital is shifting toward cash flow, yields and balance sheet durability.”
Cai described the cryptocurrency market as a quieter but healthier situation. “Bitcoin (BTC-USD) dominance remains near 60%, institutional leverage is capped, and derivatives activity has shifted toward options rather than perpetual futures,” she said. “This signals a shift toward hedging exposure rather than outright directional bets.”
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