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Bitcoin Tumbles Below $116K as Jerome Powell Delivers Hawkish Remarks
The Fed Chair appeared as dug in as ever to his insistence that the central bank stands firmly in blocking the Trump tariffs from igniting inflation.
Updated Jul 30, 2025, 7:22 p.m. Published Jul 30, 2025, 7:10 p.m.
Did U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell just threaten to hike rates?
At his post-meeting press conference following the Fed's Wednesday decision to hold interest rates steady, Powell continued to insist that the president's tariff policy risks igniting inflation.
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"Increased tariffs are pushing up prices," said Powell. "Near-term measures of inflation expectations have moved up."
"You could say," Powell continued, "the Fed is looking through inflation by not hiking [rates]."
Markets didn't take kindly to the remarks, with the price of bitcoin quickly tumbling nearly 2% to $115,800 and major U.S. stock indices moving from roughly 0.5% advances to 0.5% losses.
The carnage in altcoins was worse, with ether , solana and each slipping nearly 4%.
The Fed earlier held its fed funds range steady at 4.25%-4.5%, in line with market expectations. There were, however, two dissents from the rate vote, with Governors Waller and Bowman favoring a 25 basis point rate cut.
Under pressure from President Trump and now two Fed members to ease policy, Powell gave no indication he's wavering from his stance on — at a minimum — steady rates.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
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- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
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- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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BONK jumps more than 10% in 24 hours as momentum pushes price higher
The Solana-based token passed through a key technical level before easing back into consolidation.
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- BONK rose about 10.6% to trade near $0.00000833, extending a short-term rebound.
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