Crypto Bulls Pause Ahead of Vital U.S. Employment Data: Crypto Week Ahead

Crypto Week Ahead is a comprehensive overview outlining upcoming developments in the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors, alongside critical macroeconomic events expected to impact digital asset markets.

Cryptocurrency buyers are pausing after a robust rally, with bitcoin BTC trading down roughly 1% since Friday and sliding over 2% across the past 24 hours as prices retrace from the $84,000 mark.

Market participants are absorbing the latest upward price movement while shifting their attention toward a busy macroeconomic schedule following the Federal Reserve’s recent hawkish interest rate hike, which lifted the benchmark target rate to 4%.

The macroeconomic calendar focuses on mid-week U.S. jobless claims alongside essential reports concerning housing and durable goods metrics. Meanwhile, cross-asset markets continue to assess the overarching monetary policy trajectory following recent rate decisions issued by both the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England.

What to Watch

(All times ET)

Crypto
- Sept. 28: Solana initiates the activation window for its significant Alpenglow consensus upgrade, substituting TowerBFT with the new Votor protocol to minimize voting transaction overhead across the network.
Macro
- Sept. 29, 9:00 a.m.: U.S. S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index YoY for July est. 2.2% (Prev. 2.1%)
- Sept. 30, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. GDP Growth Rate QoQ Final for Q2 est. 1.5% (Prev. 2.1%)
- Sept. 30, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. Core PCE Price Index MoM for August est. 0.3% (Prev. 0.2%)
- Oct. 1, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. Initial Jobless Claims for period ending Sept. 26 est. 199K (Prev. 197K)
- Oct. 1, 10:00 a.m.: U.S. ISM Manufacturing PMI for September est. 54.8 (Prev. 54.6)
- Oct. 2, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls for September est. 84K (Prev. 162K)
- Oct. 2, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. Average Hourly Earnings MoM for September est. 0.3% (Prev. 0.3%)
Earnings
- None scheduled

Token Events

Governance votes and calls
- World Liberty Financial is conducting an initial vote regarding its Governance Engagement Incentive Program, suggesting a launch date of Oct. 1 to encourage community voting engagement through token incentives. Voting for this program closes on Sept. 28.
- Balancer, which faces the threat of a shutdown, is voting on a protocol reincarnation proposal to fork its underlying architecture and migrate to a fresh ecosystem. Voting concludes on Sept. 29.
- Decentraland is voting on a security response proposal following the theft of more than 1,000 Decentraland Names from user wallets. The proposal demands an immediate inquiry and advocates for a temporary freeze or pause on all smart-contract activity, impacted accounts, and secondary transfers tied to Decentraland Names to stop further movement. Voting wraps up on Oct. 1.
Unlocks
- Sept. 28: Canton CC to unlock 0.38% of its circulating supply valued at $20.7 million.
- Sept. 29: Falcon Finance FF to unlock 2.39% of its circulating supply valued at $9.73 million.
Token launches
- No confirmed major token releases.