Digital assets surged on Friday, driven by a robust US jobs report and easing geopolitical tensions. The AI-focused sector led the charge, with tokens such as Bittensor’s TAO and Render’s RNDR jumping 14% and 8%, respectively, over the past 24 hours. The CoinDesk Computing Index, which tracks AI-related tokens, emerged as the top-performing sector. Notably, Grayscale, a prominent asset manager, increased its allocation to TAO in its decentralized AI-focused fund to 27%, up from 3% in July, and added The Graph’s GRT token to its portfolio.
Bitcoin continued its steady climb, reaching $62,300, up 2.2% on the day. The broad-market crypto benchmark, the Coindesk 20 Index, rose 4.2% during the same period, indicating that altcoins outpaced Bitcoin. The strong labor market report, which added 251,000 jobs in September, exceeding estimates of 140,000, contributed to the positive sentiment. The unemployment rate declined to 4.1%, alleviating recession fears.
The upbeat mood spilled over into the stock market, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes closing 0.9% and 1.2% higher, respectively. The 10-year Treasury bond yield jumped 13 basis points to nearly 4%, while the US dollar index reached its strongest level since mid-August. Following the report, investors now expect a smaller 25-basis-point interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve in November.
According to Leena ElDeeb, a research analyst at 21Shares, “Bitcoin and other crypto assets are sensitive to labor market data because it influences the Fed’s decision on rate cuts, which in turn have a positive impact on BTC as borrowing costs fall.” Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, believes that the early October sell-off is likely over, with prices expected to rise in the coming weeks. Derivatives markets data suggest that investors are not seeking hedges against further downside, Thielen added. Will Clemente, founder of Reflexivity Research, expects Bitcoin to benefit from the Fed’s easing of monetary policy into a strong economy, following this week’s leverage flush.
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