Share this article
Bitcoin Pushes Past $87K, Dollar Crashes as Trump Looks to Terminate Fed’s Powell
Perceived threat to Fed's independence saw traders sell dollar, pushing BTC and gold higher.
Updated Apr 21, 2025, 1:51 p.m. Published Apr 21, 2025, 2:42 a.m.
What to know:
- Bitcoin surged over 2% to reach $87,200 as the dollar index hit a three-year low.
- Gold prices continued to rise, reaching a record high, amid concerns over Fed independence.
- Reports of President Trump seeking to remove Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell saw traders sell the dollar against major currencies.
Bitcoin outshined the otherwise volatile alternative cryptocurrencies early Monday as the dollar index (DXY) crashed to a three-year low on reports that President Donald Trump is exploring ways to remove the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
BTC rose over 2% to $87,200, hitting the highest since April 2, according to data from CoinDesk. The move marked a bullish resolution to the recent consolidation between $83,000 and $87,000. Major alternative cryptocurrencies such as payments-focused XRP, Ethereum's ether and Cardano's ADA rose over 1% each, lagging BTC.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
In forex market, hedge funds sold the U.S. dollar against major currencies, including euro, yen and the Aussie dollar, driving the dollar index to 98.5, the lowest since April 2022, according to data from charting platform TradingView. The DXY has declined by 10% in three months. Weakness in the dollar typically eases financial conditions, greasing risk-taking in financial markets.
Meanwhile, gold's rally continued, with the per ounce price reaching a record high of $3,382, taking the year-to-date gain to 28%. Futures tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq traded 0.5% lower.
Observers suggest that National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett's comment on Friday regarding Trump's intention to remove Powell likely triggered the selling of the dollar, along with upticks in BTC and gold.
"The move in bitcoin to $87,000 appears to be driven by a sharp drop in the U.S. dollar and a +2% rally in gold, both triggered by Trump's push to replace Fed chair Powell. While a trade deal with Japan may be announced soon, the key catalyst today is the perceived threat to Fed independence," Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, told CoinDesk.
Trump posted on Truth Social on Thursday that "Powell's termination cannot come fast enough," while reiterating calls for lower interest rates on the following day. Early last week, Powell said that the Fed would wait for more data on the economy before changing the borrowing cost while warning of stagflation.
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee warned that a move by Trump to terminate Jerome Powell would undermine the credibility of the Fed.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Strive Hikes Preferred Share Dividend Rate as Bitcoin Treasury Companies Continue to Plunge
Bitcoin has tumbled below $88,000 on Monday, helping to send Strive (ASST) common stock lower by 7% to $0.79
What to know:
- Strive raised the dividend rate by 25 basis points on its SATA Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock to 12.25%.
- SATA continues to trade below the par value of $100, currently at $91.
- Bitcoin treasury company shares are sharply lower Monday at bitcoin falls below $87,000.
Top Stories
