Bitcoin Falls Sharply By 4%, Ether Down 7%, Fed Chair Powell Indicates Hawkish Stance

The cryptocurrency market fell sharply today after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the central bank will continue its restrictive policy stance at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium. On August 26, till 5.34 pm UTC, Bitcoin fell by 4%, and was quoted at US$ 20,727.60, in the intra day trading. Yesterday, Bitcoin closed at US$ 21,591.50. In the last 5 days, Bitcoin gained by 3.84%, and in the past 1 month, it has dropped by around 2.54%. Importantly, in the past 6 months, Bitcoin has dropped by 47.15%. The US Fed interest rate hikes and inflation rate have been two major drivers of the crypto markets this year.

Today, Powell stated, "Restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time. The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy...We are now about halfway through the inter-meeting period. Our decision at the September meeting will depend on the totality of the incoming data and the evolving outlook. At some point, as the stance of monetary policy tightens further, it likely will become appropriate to slow the pace of increases."

Like Bitcoin, other major crypto coins also dropped today. Ethereum was quoted at US$ 1,575.57, down by 7.06%. Yesterday, Ether closed at US$ 1,695.29. Litecoin was quoted at US$ 53.85, down by 4.89%, Dogecoin was quoted at US$ 0.0655 down by 5.03%, and Cardano was quoted at US$ 0.4454 down by 4.01% today, till last traded.

Similar to Cryptocurrencies, stock markets also reacted negatively, after Powell's speech, NASDAQ Composite Index fell by around 2.69%, Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by around 1.82%, and S&P 500 Index fell by around 2.18%.