<\/p>\n
The Fed holds rates near 3.6% as Trump demands deeper cuts, putting central bank independence under strain while Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana trade as macro risk barometers.<\/p>\n
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The Federal Reserve\u2019s latest decision to hold interest rates around 3.6% leaves monetary policy frozen in place even as President Donald Trump intensifies his public campaign for deeper cuts. The pause underscores a widening gap between the White House\u2019s appetite for cheaper money and a central bank determined to defend its independence.<\/a><\/p>\n The Fed left its benchmark rate unchanged after three cuts last year, arguing that the economic outlook \u201chas clearly improved since the last meeting\u201d and that the job market is showing signs of stabilizing. Chair Jerome Powell noted that solid 4.4% annualized growth in the July\u2011September quarter suggests rates are \u201cnot so high that they are noticeably slowing growth.\u201d Two governors, Stephen Miran and Christopher Waller, dissented in favor of another quarter\u2011point cut, with Miran \u2014 a Trump appointee \u2014 pushing yet again for more aggressive easing.<\/a><\/p>\n Trump, who has relentlessly assailed Powell for not slashing borrowing costs, is expected to name a new Fed chair once Powell\u2019s term expires in May, a move that could redefine the balance between politics and monetary policy. The standoff echoes earlier clashes in which Trump demanded faster cuts even as advisers like Kevin Hassett publicly insisted the Fed \u201cwould remain insulated from political pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The rate decision comes amid a Justice Department probe into a $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed\u2019s headquarters and Powell\u2019s related congressional testimony, an investigation the chair has bluntly described as a \u201cpretext to punish the Fed for not cutting rates more quickly.\u201d Powell also attended Supreme Court arguments over Trump\u2019s attempt to fire Governor Lisa Cook, calling it \u201cperhaps the most important legal case in the Fed\u2019s history\u201d and stressing he is \u201cstrongly committed\u201d to preserving the central bank\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n Hassett has warned that if monetary policy is \u201cdirected by political pressure or intimidation,\u201d markets will question whether rates still reflect economic data rather than White House priorities. That threat matters for crypto as much as for Treasuries and equities, because digital assets continue to trade as the purest expression of macro risk appetite.<\/a><\/p>\n This parabolic move comes as digital assets continue to trade as the purest expression of macro risk appetite. Bitcoin (BTC) is hovering around $88,235, with a 24\u2011hour high near $90,476 and a low near $87,549, on roughly $32.8B in dollar volumes. Ethereum (ETH) changes hands close to $2,953, with about $23.4B in 24\u2011hour turnover and spot quotes clustered in the $4,500\u2013$4,600 band on major exchanges earlier this week. Solana (SOL) trades around $192, up about 2.7% over the last 24 hours, with nearly $9.8B in volume.<\/a><\/p>\n For now, crypto markets appear to be taking the Fed\u2019s pause in stride: recent coverage shows Bitcoin and XRP grinding higher as traders parse Powell\u2019s messaging, even as altcoins like Solana remain highly sensitive to shifts in global risk appetite. Earlier this month, Trump signaled he had \u201cno plan\u201d to fire Powell \u201cfor now,\u201d but left the door open \u2014 a conditional backing that keeps the Fed, and by extension rate\u2011sensitive crypto assets, trading under a permanent cloud of political risk.<\/a><\/p>\n Critically for\u00a0Fed independence, the latest decision reinforces a pattern in which Powell and his colleagues insist on data\u2011driven policy while the White House openly lobbies for faster cuts. Trump\u2019s evolving stance on\u00a0Powell\u2019s future\u00a0and the investigation surrounding the $2.5 billion renovation have already become a central macro narrative for traders trying to price the path of rates into 2026. For crypto bulls betting that looser policy will eventually fuel another leg higher in digital assets, the Fed\u2019s latest pause is less a turning point than a reminder that monetary policy \u2014 and the politics around it \u2014 remains the critical macro variable.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Fed holds rates near 3.6% as Trump demands deeper cuts, putting central bank independence under strain while Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana trade as macro risk barometers. Summary The Fed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20906,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20905\/revisions\/20906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fed holds at 3.6%, Trump turns up heat<\/h2>\n
Independence on trial<\/h2>\n
Crypto trades as macro risk<\/h2>\n