As a result of the Federal Reserve’s decision to halt interest rate hikes, the price of Bitcoin fell by 4%.
Bitcoin’s price has fallen below $25,000 for the first time since March 17 in response to a hawkish Fed statement during another turbulent week for the cryptocurrency industry.
According to data from TradingView, the price of Bitcoin dropped 4% from $25,867 to $24,819 over 30 minutes on June 15. Bitcoin has regained ground and is holding just above $25,000 at publication.
During the past week, Bitcoin’s price remained stable at around $26,000 as the market adjusted to the SEC’s legal action against crypto exchange giants Coinbase and Binance and increased macroeconomic ambiguity surrounding interest rate signals from the United States Federal Reserve.
The abrupt decline in price occurred approximately three hours after the Federal Reserve announced a halt to interest rate hikes following a fifteen-month campaign of rate hikes to combat surging inflation.
While the market nearly unanimously anticipated a rate pause, the Federal Open Markets Committee statement hinted at future rate increases, which typically dampens investor enthusiasm for risk assets such as cryptocurrencies.
The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Ether ETH tickers down $1,648 also declined, declining more than 5% from $1,727 to $1,631. Altcoins were not immune to the bearish sentiment, with many tokens designated as securities in SEC lawsuits declining by more than 3%.
Cardano ADA$0.261 is currently down 3.4% in the last 24 hours, Polygon MATIC$0.6210 and Solana SOL$14 fell 3.3% and 2.8% separately.
According to reports, current Bitcoin options data suggests a further decline, especially when regulatory hostility towards the crypto industry on U.S. soil and the likelihood of further Fed rate hikes in the coming months are considered.