Bitcoin crashed below $64,000: the "hawkish" rhetoric of the new Fed chair collapsed the crypto market
The first cryptocurrency lost the psychological mark of $64,000, reacting sharply to the results of the first Federal Reserve meeting under Kevin Warsh. The digital asset market entered a correction phase, and investors are reassessing their positions amid tightening monetary rhetoric.
The regulator left the key interest rate unchanged — at 3.5–3.75% per annum. However, the Fed chair did not rule out the possibility of raising it by the end of this year, which came as an unpleasant surprise for the crypto community. The dot plot revealed a split within the committee: nine officials favor keeping or cutting the rate, while another nine support at least one hike. Warsh himself refrained from a personal forecast, calling this format "limiting" for future policy.
During the press conference, Warsh used the term "price stability" more than ten times, which investors interpreted as a "hawkish" signal. The reaction was immediate: the yield on two-year U.S. Treasury bonds surged by 14.4 basis points, and stock indices moved lower. The Fed identified a spike in energy prices due to the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East as the main macroeconomic risk. Warsh emphasized that returning inflation to the target level of 2% is an "unconditional" priority.
Crypto Market Reaction
Bitcoin plunged to ~$63,680. Ethereum lost 3.15%, while Solana and XRP fell by 2.9% and 3.8%, respectively. The only exception was TRX, which posted a modest gain of 0.75%. The GMCI 30 index, which tracks the performance of the largest assets by market capitalization, declined by 2.6%.
Traditional safe-haven assets also came under pressure: gold fell by 1.39%, silver by 2.79%. Notably, the stock market reacted differently: the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices rose amid the signing of an interim agreement with Iran and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, which temporarily reduced geopolitical risks.
My analysis: The market clearly overestimated the likelihood of a dovish policy from the new Fed chair. Warsh's hawkish stance and uncertainty over the rate trajectory create an extremely unfavorable backdrop for risky assets, including cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin has lost key support at $64,000, and traders' attention will now focus on the $60,000 level. If macroeconomic pressure persists, we could see a deeper correction in the coming weeks.