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Bitcoin Falls Below $79,000 as XRP Leads Decliners

XRP is posting the biggest drop among the major tokens, while Solana is moving higher. Traders are also pricing in a higher Fed rate, which is weighing on sentiment around Bitcoin and Ether.

By Zenz van der Wielen
• 2 min read
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Bitcoin Falls Below $79,000 as XRP Leads Decliners

Key Takeaways

  • Bitcoin fell to just below $79,000 in Asia on Thursday morning after briefly trading above $80,000 earlier.
  • XRP dropped nearly 3% and led the decliners, while Solana rose nearly 4% to just above $101.
  • Traders are increasingly betting on a Federal Reserve rate hike, which is affecting sentiment in the crypto market.

Bitcoin fell to just below $79,000 (€67,700) in Asia on Thursday morning after briefly trading above $80,000 (€68,600) earlier, for the first time since May. XRP lost the most among the major tokens and was trading a little above $1.41 (€1.21), while Solana moved higher against the trend. The moves came as traders pushed up their expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike.

Bitcoin Loses Momentum

Bitcoin fell nearly 1% on the day, but still held on to a solid weekly gain. Earlier this week, the price was still above $80,000 (€68,600), but that level has so far not held. The broader crypto market also showed a mixed picture, with Ether around $2,494 (€2,140) and BNB just below $703 (€602).

Weekly gains have now clearly shrunk as the rolling seven-day window moves further past last week's strong rally. Bitcoin is now up 14% over seven days, down from 23% a day earlier. Ether fell in the same comparison from 29% to 11%.

XRP Leads the Decliners

XRP fell nearly 3% and was the weakest major token of the day. Even so, the coin is still up 28% from a week ago. Hyperliquid's HYPE slipped a little more than 1% to just below $81 (€69), and Tron lost a little less than 1% to just above 33 cents. Dogecoin held around 9 cents.

Solana was the standout exception, rising nearly 4% to just above $101 (€87). That also pushed the token further ahead on a weekly basis, with a gain of 19%.

The Fed and Market Sentiment

Crypto prices are moving in a market that has become more sensitive to the Fed's interest rate policy. Short-term U.S. Treasuries fell overnight as traders leaned more heavily toward a rate hike, which clashes with the lower-yield environment that helped Bitcoin rise last week from below $68,000 (€58,300). Kevin Warsh will give his first Jackson Hole speech on Friday as Fed chair, three weeks before the September 15 and 16 rate decision.

For European crypto followers, that matters because the crypto market has been moving closely with expectations around rates and liquidity in recent weeks. In 2026, Bitcoin has already traded roughly between $50,000 (€42,800) and $85,000 (€72,800), a range where profit-taking and break-even selling tend to show up more often. That makes the Fed signals in the coming days especially important for sentiment, even if they still do not say anything about the immediate direction of the price.

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