Bitcoin remains subdued as gold races to new record above $5,400 following Jerome Powell remarks

Markets Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Bitcoin remains subdued as gold races to new record above $5,400 following Jerome Powell remarks Gold fans rushed in to buy as the Fed chair said he took no macro signal from the raging bull market in precious metals. By Krisztian Sandor | Edited by Stephen Alpher Jan 28, 2026, 9:37 p.m. Make us preferred on Google Jerome Powell speaking at podium (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/ CC BY 4.0/Modified by CoinDesk) What to know : Gold soared to a new record on Wednesday afternoon, quickening its rise as Fed Chair Jerome Powell spoke at his post-meeting press conference. Bitcoin continues to trade in a very tight range around $89,000. "Crypto is underperforming some of the very assets it was designed to supplant," said one analyst. The bull market in gold ratcheted into a higher gear on Wednesday, with the yellow metal soaring 6% to above $5,400 per ounce for the first time. Silver and platinum posted even larger percentage gains, but gold, with a market capitalization somewhere in the $40 trillion area, was surely the standout asset. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . A sizable chunk of gold's gains came following comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at a press conference following the central bank’s universally expected decision to hold its benchmark fed funds rate range steady at 3.50%.3.75%. Asked directly about the rapid ascent in gold and silver prices, Powell cautioned against over-interpreting the rally as a macro signal. "Don’t take too much message into [that] macroeconomically," he said, adding that while some may argue the Fed is losing credibility, “it is simply not the case." "If you look at where inflation expectations are, our credibility is right where it needs to be," Powell said. Gold bulls apparently thought otherwise. Whither bitcoin? Bitcoin BTC $ 88,994.49 bulls, meanwhile, continued to watch from the sidelines as real gold yet again vastly outperformed its digital counterpart. Prices traded in an excruciatingly tight range throughout the day, edging lower following the Fed decision and recently trading at $89,000, flat over the past 24 hours. Prices across the rest of the major cryptos followed similar action. U.S. stocks were also little changed on Wednesday as investors awaited earnings from the likes of Microsoft, Meta and Tesla. Is bitcoin losing its digital gold edge? Despite the macro tailwinds often touted as benefiting bitcoin as "digital gold" — including a weaker U.S. dollar and rising geopolitical risk — BTC has been struggling recently, while gold is now up more than 90% over the past 12 months. The contrast casts a shadow over bitcoin’s supposed role as a macro hedge, especially as the assets it was designed to rival are outperforming, James Harris, CEO of yield platform Tesseract Group, argued. “We’re clearly in a market regime where crypto is underperforming some of the very assets it was designed to supplant," said Harris in a note. "Part of that outperformance is almost certainly a repricing of geopolitical and fiscal risk, but it also reflects gold clawing back some relative market share from bitcoin.” Market Wrap Bitcoin News Gold More For You Pudgy Penguins: A New Blueprint for Tokenized Culture By CoinDesk Research Dec 30, 2025 Commissioned by Pudgy Penguins Pudgy Penguins is building a multi-vertical consumer IP platform — combining phygital products, games, NFTs and PENGU to monetize culture at scale. What to know : Pudgy Penguins is emerging as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle, shifting from speculative “digital luxury goods” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. Its strategy is to acquire users through mainstream channels first; toys, retail partnerships and viral media, then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs and the PENGU token. The ecosystem now spans phygital products (> $13M retail sales and >1M units sold), games and experiences (Pudgy Party surpassed 500k downloads in two weeks), and a widely distributed token (airdropped to 6M+ wallets). While the market is currently pricing Pudgy at a premium relative to traditional IP peers, sustained success depends on execution across retail expansion, gaming adoption and deeper token utility. View Full Report More For You Tesla made no changes to bitcoin holdings in Q4 as it booked $239 million digital asset loss By James Van Straten | Edited by Stephen Alpher 26 minutes ago The company's bitcoin stack remained at 11,509 coins, worth about $1 billion at BTC's current price near $89,000. What to know : Tesla made no changes in its bitcoin holdings during the fourth quarter, continuing to hold 11,509 coins. The company recorded a $239 million after-tax mark-to-market loss on its digital assets due to bitcoin's decline from about $114,000 to $88,000 during the year's final three months. Read full story Latest Crypto News Tesla made no changes to bitcoin holdings in Q4 as it booked $239 million digital asset loss 26 minutes ago Paxos' gold token rakes in record inflows as crypto investors turn to the yellow metal 1 hour ago White House to meet with crypto, banking executives to discuss market structure bill 2 hours ago Optimism governance approves OP token buyback plan tied to superchain revenue 2 hours ago Crypto's political power supercharged with $193 million in Fairshake, thanks to new cash 2 hours ago Federal Reserve holds policy steady as early rate cut bets vanish and bitcoin stalls 2 hours ago Top Stories Coinbase rolls out prediction markets to all U.S. customers 2 hours ago Circle shares rise 4% as Polymarket-driven USDC growth prompts analyst upgrade 4 hours ago Robinhood CEO says tokenized stocks could prevent another GameStop freeze 5 hours ago Tether is buying up to $1 billion of gold per month and storing it in a 'James Bond' bunker 8 hours ago Fidelity Investments starts its own stablecoin in a massive bet that future of banking is on blockchain 8 hours ago The Fed has an interest rate announcement today — crypto traders think it will be boring 9 hours ago In this article BTC BTC $ 88,994.49 ◢ 0.02 %