Crypto Bulls Pause as U.S. Jobs Data Takes Center Stage This Week

Here’s what crypto and macro markets are watching during the week beginning Sept. 28.

Crypto bulls are taking a pause after the recent rally. Bitcoin was down about 1% from Friday and more than 2% over the previous 24 hours, retreating from the $84,000 level.

Markets are now assessing the latest price gains while preparing for a busy macroeconomic calendar. The focus follows last week’s hawkish Federal Reserve rate decision, which lifted the benchmark target rate to 4%.

The week’s economic agenda includes U.S. jobless claims, housing data and durable-goods figures. Investors will also assess the broader interest-rate outlook following recent policy decisions from the Bank of Japan and Bank of England.

What to Watch

All times ET

Crypto

Sept. 28: Solana begins the activation window for its Alpenglow consensus upgrade. The upgrade will replace TowerBFT with the Votor protocol, with the goal of reducing voting-related transaction overhead across the network.

Macro

Sept. 29, 9:00 a.m.: U.S. S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index YoY for July, estimated at 2.2% versus 2.1% previously.

Sept. 30, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. Q2 GDP Growth Rate QoQ final reading, expected at 1.5% compared with 2.1% previously.

Sept. 30, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. Core PCE Price Index MoM for August, forecast at 0.3% versus 0.2% previously.

Oct. 1, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. Initial Jobless Claims for the period ending Sept. 26, estimated at 199,000 versus 197,000 previously.

Oct. 1, 10:00 a.m.: U.S. ISM Manufacturing PMI for September, expected at 54.8 compared with 54.6 previously.

Oct. 2, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls for September, projected at 84,000 versus 162,000 previously.

Oct. 2, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. Average Hourly Earnings MoM for September, estimated at 0.3%, unchanged from the previous reading.

Earnings

No major earnings releases are scheduled.

Token Events

Governance Votes and Calls

World Liberty Financial is conducting a preliminary vote on its Governance Engagement Incentive Program. The proposal would launch Oct. 1 and use token rewards to encourage community participation in governance. Voting ends Sept. 28.

Balancer, which is facing the possibility of a shutdown, is voting on a proposal to fork its core architecture and establish a new ecosystem through a protocol reincarnation. The vote closes Sept. 29.

Decentraland is voting on a security-response proposal following the theft of more than 1,000 Decentraland Names from user accounts. The proposal calls for an immediate investigation and a temporary freeze or suspension of smart-contract activity, affected accounts and secondary transfers involving Decentraland Names to prevent additional movement. Voting ends Oct. 1.

Token Unlocks

Sept. 28: Canton (CC) will unlock 0.38% of its circulating supply, valued at approximately $20.7 million.

Sept. 29: Falcon Finance (FF) will unlock 2.39% of its circulating supply, worth approximately $9.73 million.

Token Launches

No major confirmed token launches are scheduled.

Conferences

Sept. 29-Oct. 1: Korea Blockchain Week takes place in Seoul.

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