Fed’s Jerome Powell Drops Insight; Here’s How Crypto Market Reacted

In a speech on Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that the central bank is currently in wait-and-see mode before making any further interest rate adjustments.

Powell stated at a policy forum in New York that the Fed is “focused on separating the signal from the noise as the outlook evolves. We do not need to be in a hurry, and are well positioned to wait for greater clarity.” Here he reiterated recent statements in which he and his colleagues urged patience on monetary policy in the face of heightened uncertainty.

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The statements appear to contradict rising market expectations for interest rate reductions this year. According to the CME Group’s FedWatch index, traders have priced in the equivalent of three-quarter percentage point reductions by the end of the year, beginning in June. Powell’s words, however, suggest that the Fed will wait and see before deciding on further policy easing.

The Fed chair’s comments come on the same day that the Labor Department announced a 151,000 increase in nonfarm payrolls in February, which was somewhat lower than market estimates.

Crypto market reacts

The cryptocurrency market is trading down as traders consider the Fed’s latest comments on interest rate cuts.  In the last 24 hours, the crypto market has seen $493 million in liquidations, per CoinGlass data. 

The much-anticipated Crypto Summit on Friday finished with a whimper rather than a bang for cryptocurrency traders, with altcoins such as XRP, Cardano’s ADA and Solana’s SOL falling more than market leader Bitcoin (BTC).

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XRP fell 8.11% in the last 24 hours to $2.33, down from a high of $2.98 earlier this week – a nearly 20% loss from its Sunday top following the initial crypto reserve announcement.

Cardano’s ADA lost over 8%, while Solana’s SOL dropped 4% to $138 in the early Saturday trading session. Other altcoins, such as SUI, HBAR, Raydium and Jito, suffered losses ranging from 9% to 12%, while nearly all of the top 100, except for a few assets, were in the red daily.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, fared better, trading at $85,950, down 3.38% in the previous 24 hours, demonstrating considerable resilience in comparison to the altcoin market sell-off.