Altcoins Rise as Bitcoin Stalls Ahead of Fed Meeting

The cryptocurrency market saw some interesting developments as Bitcoin stalled at $78,229. While Bitcoin remained relatively flat, other altcoins like Hyperliquid (HYPE), Zcash (ZEC), and Ethena (ENA) experienced significant price gains.

Hype's price rose after reports that Hyperliquid Labs was negotiating with Payward to provide perpetual futures to U.S. traders. This move would give registered users of Payward's Bitnomial exchange access to a subset of perpetual futures tied to Hyperliquid's markets.

Zcash also saw its price rise, reaching a multi-year high after Grayscale launched the first U.S. spot Zcash exchange-traded fund on the NYSE. This new ETF will give traditional investors direct exposure to ZEC for the first time through a conventional brokerage account.

Ethena's price also rose significantly, up over 7% in the last 24 hours, after Ethena Labs launched the beta of Ethena Pay, a self-custodial money app built on Avalanche (AVAX). The app integrated Ethena's USDe stablecoin and gave users up to 6% annual yield on balances.

The rally in altcoins came amid token-specific developments, ranging from regulatory talks to new exchange-traded fund launches. However, the broader market remains cautious ahead of the mid-September Fed meeting, with September rate hike odds sitting at nearly 62%.