The price of Bitcoin fell 4% after the Federal Reserve paused interest rate hikes but anticipated further hikes later this year.
Following a hawkish Fed announcement and another rocky week for the crypto industry, the price of Bitcoin has dipped below $25,000 for the first time since March 17.
According to TradingView statistics, the price of Bitcoin declined 4% in 30 minutes, from $25,867 to $24,819 on June 15. Bitcoin has regained ground and was trading just around $25,000 at the time of writing.
Bitcoin has been hovering around $26,000 for the past week as the market digested the Securities and Exchange Commission’s legal action against crypto exchange heavyweights Coinbase and Binance, as well as growing macroeconomic uncertainty surrounding interest rate signals from the United States Federal Reserve.
The significant reduction in price occurred approximately three hours after the Federal Reserve declared a pause in interest rate hikes following a 15-month program of rate hikes to tackle soaring inflation.
While the market almost unanimously expected a rate freeze, the Federal Open Markets Committee statement hinted to future rate hikes, which normally dampens investor enthusiasm for risk assets such as cryptocurrencies.
Eth, the second largest cryptocurrency by market size, fell more than 5% in the same time frame, from $1,727 to $1,631. Altcoins were not immune to the gloomy attitude, with several of the tokens classified as securities in the SEC’s litigation falling by more than 3%.In the previous 24 hours, ADA is down 3.4%, while MATIC and SOL are down 3.3% and 2.8%, respectively.
According to analyst Marcel Pechman, current Bitcoin options data suggests a further decline, especially in light of regulatory hostility toward the crypto industry in the United States, as well as the likelihood of further Fed rate increases in the coming months.