Bitcoin price slips on ‘discord’ risk at Fed amid messy regime change. ‘No choice but to stay’

Bitcoin stumbled after Jerome Powell’s final presser at the helm of the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, sliding 2% to $75,000 as cracks inside the central bank rattled markets.

Traders digested an unusually divided Fed decision to hold rates and the prospect of policy conflict under incoming chair Kevin Warsh, Kraken’s chief economist Thomas Perfumo said in a note shared with DL News.

“The absence of a clean handoff to Warsh, who is nearing Senate confirmation as chair, suggests the potential for discord over policy at the Fed,” Perfumo said.

Bitcoin’s pullback comes as the market weighs internal Fed discord at a time when traders are pricing roughly 90% odds of rates holding steady through year-end. That dynamic — a messy transition rather than a clean handoff — is emerging as a net negative for crypto and other growth assets.

“The vote itself was a loud crack in the Powell-era consensus, with four dissents, the most on a single decision since October 1992,” Perfumo said.

Three officials dissented over what they viewed as an “easing bias” in the central bank’s policy. Warsh has pledged to cut rates quickly, but Powell emphasised that inflation risks are rising, particularly as Brent crude still trades above $100 per barrel amid stalled US-Iran negotiations.

The tension showed up fast in the crypto exchange-traded fund space. Traders dumped $138 million in spot Bitcoin ETFs following the meeting, reversing part of April’s recovery, DefiLlama data shows.

Still, April…