According to (The Block), Bitcoin dropped below the $100,000 mark on Wednesday in response to comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Powell opposed the idea of the U.S. establishing a national Bitcoin reserve in his speech and provided a hawkish economic outlook for 2025.
According to data from (The Block) Bitcoin price page, Bitcoin fell by 6% in the past 24 hours, currently trading at $98,940. Over the past week, Bitcoin had remained above the $100,000 level and set a new all-time high of $108,135 during this period.
Most altcoins also experienced declines on Wednesday, with Ethereum down 6.5% and XRP down 12.64%. The GMCI 30 index, which measures the performance of the top 30 cryptocurrencies, fell by 7.18% in the past day.
The recent upward trend of Bitcoin has been driven by comments from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who reiterated plans to establish a national strategic Bitcoin reserve. Additionally, several U.S. states, including Texas, Pennsylvania, and Florida, have proposed bills to establish state-supported Bitcoin reserves, further boosting trader sentiment.
However, Powell stated at Wednesday's press conference that the central bank is not allowed to hold Bitcoin and has "no plans to change the law," responding to questions about whether the U.S. government would establish a Bitcoin reserve.
Former BitMEX CEO and current Maelstrom CIO Arthur Hayes stated in a recent article that he expects a massive sell-off in the cryptocurrency market after Trump takes office in January, as investors realize the gap between their expectations and reality.
"The market will immediately realize that Trump has at most a year to implement any policy changes, around January 20," Hayes said. "This awareness will lead to a violent sell-off in cryptocurrencies and other Trump 2.0 stock trades."
Although the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided on Wednesday to cut interest rates by 25 basis points, Powell indicated that the pace of rate cuts would slow next year and noted that Wednesday's rate adjustment was "tighter than the financial markets had expected," according to Reuters.
The U.S. stock market also saw a significant decline on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 2.58%, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell by 3.56%, and the S&P 500 Index fell by 2.95%, according to MarketWatch data.
Presto Research analyst Min Jung said: "As the Christmas and New Year holidays approach, the market is expected to remain relatively calm. With only a month until Trump's inauguration, market attention may shift towards the incoming administration and Trump's related remarks."
The story update included comments from Presto Research.
