Uniswap’s UNI token broke away from a cautious cryptocurrency market on Wednesday, climbing about 20% while Bitcoin and most major altcoins moved lower ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision.
UNI traded near $2.75 and extended its advance to a seventh consecutive session. That marks its longest winning run since August 2023, when the token gained for eight straight days.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin slipped below $65,000 after trading near $67,000 one day earlier. The wider crypto market also softened as traders waited for Kevin Warsh’s first policy decision as Federal Reserve chair.
Standard Chartered’s latest outlook provided the main catalyst behind UNI’s move. Geoff Kendrick, the bank’s head of digital assets research, began coverage with a $100 price target for 2030 and projected a move toward $6.50 by the end of 2026.
His forecast focuses on the expected growth of tokenized real-world assets, including stocks and bonds issued through blockchain networks. Uniswap could benefit if a larger share of those assets were traded through decentralized finance platforms.
Activity has already increased across the protocol’s tokenized-asset pools. More than $9.1 billion has reportedly moved through real-world-asset markets since tokenized stocks launched on Uniswap earlier this month.
Additionally, Uniswap’s fee switch has changed the role of UNI within the protocol. A share of trading fees now funds token purchases and burns, reducing the available supply.
About 106 million UNI tokens have been removed, representing more than 10% of the original supply. This mechanism has added a deflationary feature to an asset previously used mainly for governance.
Bitcoin faced renewed selling pressure ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee announcement. The asset fell below $65,000 as investors reduced exposure before Warsh’s post-meeting press conference.
Markets broadly expect the Fed to leave its benchmark rate unchanged. Therefore, attention has shifted toward Warsh’s comments on inflation, future policy changes, and the central bank’s communication strategy.
The CoinDesk 20 Index fell 1.2% from midnight UTC, with most constituents trading lower. NEAR, Injective, and several stablecoin-linked tokens declined by as much as 8%.
Futures activity also slowed. Total crypto derivatives volume dropped about 20% to $165 billion, while open interest declined 2.3% to $110 billion.
Liquidations fell 44% to roughly $310 million, showing that leveraged positions were being reduced without a broad forced-selling event.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility index remained near 39%, its lowest level since early June. Ether volatility showed a similar pattern, indicating that options traders were not pricing an immediate large move before the announcement.
Cardano stood out in derivatives markets as open interest climbed toward a record level. However, ADA’s price declined below $0.17 while aggressive market orders remained dominated by sellers.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Most major tokens also recorded negative cumulative volume delta readings, pointing to broader selling pressure across spot and futures markets.
UNI remained the clear exception. Its seven-day rally, token-burning mechanism, and growing activity in tokenized-asset markets helped the token advance while the rest of the market waited for Warsh’s first major policy signal.
