Decentral Block Post

Bitcoin (BTC) stayed above $17,000 on Jan. 10 as risk assets awaited fresh cues on policy from the United States Federal Reserve.

Powell to kick off week of U.S. macro triggers

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD consolidating after hitting $17,396 on Bitstamp the day prior — its highest since Dec. 16.

The pair gained in line with gold early in the week, seeing a slight cool-off as U.S. stocks also lay in wait for potential Fed catalysts.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell was due to speak at a central bank conference on the day, with bulls hoping for a more dovish tone in the wake of several months of declining inflation.

The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data covering December, 2022, was nonetheless not due until Jan. 12.

ShibaSwap is a DeFi platform featuring decentralized exchange (DEX) and passive income-generating services like staking, liquidity pools, and yield farming in its ecosystem.

Launched in July 2021, ShibaSwap is a fork of SushiSwap, a popular DEX tweaked from Uniswap (UNI), the world's leading DEX by volume. But unlike its rivals, ShibaSwap's core purpose has been mostly about boosting the utility of Shiba Inu tokens.

What are Shiba Inu tokens?

ShibaSwap uses three main tokens, namel Shiba Inu (SHIB), Doge Killer (LEASH), and Bone (BONE). Let's discuss them in detail as follows.

Shiba Inu (SHIB)

Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a Dogecoin-inspired meme-coin created in August 2020 by the pseudonymous "Ryoshi."

During its ICO, the founder(s) distributed one quadrillion SHIB, with half allocated to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Later, Buterin donated 50 trillion SHIB to an Indian Covid-19 relief fund while sending the rest 450 trillion tokens to a dead wallet.

Traders might rejoice now that Bitcoin price ventured above $17,400, but twenty-seven long days have passed since Bitcoin (BTC) last breached the $17,250 resistance. 

On December 13, after a two-week-long lateral movement, Bitcoin posted a 6.5% rally toward $18,000 and even though the current movement still lacks strength, traders believe that a retest of the $18,250 resistance remains possible.

To start the week, the S&P 500 index rose to its highest level in twenty-six days on Jan. 9. Weak economic data had previously fueled investors' expectation of slower interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve (FED) and the Jan. 12 Consumer Index Report (CPI) could lend some credence to this expectation.

On Jan. 6, German retail sales data showed a 5.9% year-on-year contraction took place in November. In the U.S., economic activity in the services sector contracted in December after 30 consecutive months of growth. The Services PMI reading was 49.6%, and readings below 50% typically point toward a weakening economy.

Investors anxiously wait for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) release on Jan. 12, which is more likely to dictate bets on whether the FED will raise interest rates by 0.25% or 0.50% in early February. Economists expect inflation to increase by 6.6% over the prior year in December, so a weaker-than-consensus CPI could further boost markets' performance.