The Federal Reserve executed a hawkish interest rate cut, reducing expectations for further cuts next year from four to two, which shook the cryptocurrency market. Additionally, remarks made by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell regarding Bitcoin contributed to price declines. As of 9:45 AM on the 19th, the price of Bitcoin in South Korea on Bithumb fell 3.21% to 104,962,900 KRW, while overseas, it saw a 4.93% drop to $10,470 on CoinMarketCap. Powell stated at a press conference that the Fed is not allowed to own Bitcoin and has no plans for legislative changes regarding Bitcoin reserves, which worsened investor sentiment. Despite the market fluctuations, experts suggest that this may be a temporary adjustment and not the end of the bullish market.
The Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust, a spinoff of Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF, has seen over $1 billion in net inflows this year and is currently managed at a scale of over $4 billion. Meanwhile, El Salvador has agreed to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) bailout terms, which includes scaling back its Bitcoin-related policies. This agreement entails a 40-month loan of $1.4 billion to reduce debt as a percentage of GDP. El Salvador has been purchasing Bitcoin since 2021 and currently holds about 5,968 Bitcoins.
Michael Saylor, founder of MicroStrategy, expressed in a Bloomberg interview that he would accept the opportunity to provide cryptocurrency advice to the Trump administration if requested. MicroStrategy, which holds the most Bitcoin among single entities, has been included in the ‘Nasdaq 100’, and Saylor defended their extensive Bitcoin investment by highlighting their software business, which generates $75 million annually, as well as unrealized Bitcoin investment profits of $18.6 billion annually.