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The crypto market was down in the early Wednesday session, apparently in response to recent remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The majority of crypto assets, including Bitcoin, XRP and Shiba Inu, are posting losses on the day as Fed Chair Jerome Powell sparked caution across the markets with his recent statement.
In his Tuesday speech, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell restated the central bank's commitment to lowering inflation and hinted that policymakers are not hurrying to cut interest rates.
Powell's comments on monetary policy were broadly consistent with his prior views and those of his colleagues, who are grappling with a combination of fiscal and monetary factors that make for an uncertain environment.
Tomiwabold OlajidePowell’s comments come in the first of two appearances this week on Capitol Hill. He appears before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.
Crypto markets react
Markets have read the Fed's recent messaging as indicating that rates will remain on hold, most likely through the summer, following dropping its benchmark borrowing level by a full percentage point in late 2024.
Powell stated that the current policy stance, which has the benchmark Fed funds rate ranging from 4.25% to 4.5%, allows for flexibility. The Federal Open Market Committee held the rate steady during its late-January meeting.
Bitcoin's (BTC) price fell nearly 2% in the past 24 hours amid profit-taking on the crypto market that led to over $173 million in bullish bets liquidated. Total liquidations have reached $229 million in the past 24 hours, with 120,197 traders liquidated.
The bulk of cryptocurrencies have seen a drop in the past 24 hours; XRP and Shiba Inu were recording losses of over 3%, and other major cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Cardano and Solana are also seeing declines. Dogecoin, Stellar, Chainlink and Toncoin were reporting losses between 3% and 6%.
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