Bitcoin Breaks Above $98,000 as Fed Warns of Macroeconomic Dangers

Leading cryptocurrencies traded in a sideways fashion on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve issued a warning regarding the macroeconomic dangers posed by President Donald Trump's tariff moves.

What Happened: Bitcoin encountered tough resistance in the mid-$97,000s throughout the day before breaking the barrier overnight and recovering $98,000 for the first time since February 21. Bitcoin's market dominance reached a yearly high of 64.4%, highlighting the ongoing capital rotation from other assets to the apex cryptocurrency.

On the other hand, Ethereum faced difficulties, falling to an intraday low of $1,788.69 during a volatile trading session that saw volume increase up to 220%. This downturn followed a recent rally that propelled Ethereum to a 14-month high of $2,040 on Monday.

Later, in the futures market, a substantial portion of bearish bets on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency futures were liquidated as prices moved in unanticipated directions. Over $184 million was liquidated from the cryptocurrency market in the last 24 hours, with the majority being bearish.

Furthermore, Bitcoin's Open Interest saw a slight decrease of 0.78% in the last 24 hours. Interestingly, over 63% of the Bitcoin derivatives traders on Binance were betting against the leading cryptocurrency.

The "Greed" sentiment still persists in the market, as indicated by the Crypto Fear and Greed Index, which measures the overall emotions in the cryptocurrency market through an analysis of various factors like market volatility, social media engagement in cryptocurrencies, and Google Trends data.

Top Gainers (24-Hours)

Cryptocurrency торговли на валюты had mixed fortunes on Wednesday, with the global cryptocurrency market capitalization contracting by 0.20% to reach $3 trillion.

In the macroeconomic realm, the Fed's Chair Jerome Powell expressed concerns that Trump's tariff measures could lead to higher inflation, weaker growth, and a rise in unemployment. This statement came after the central bank's widely predicted decision to keep interest rates in a range of 4.25%-4.50%.

"The Trump administration is planning to scrap Biden-era AI chip curbs, a move that could benefit Nvidia Corp. and other U.S. tech firms," reported Bloomberg. Following this news, shares of Nvidia rose during the last trading hour, despite earlier declines.

The administration is said to be rolling back the restrictions imposed last year by the Biden administration to limit U.S. companies from exporting certain types of advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China. These restrictions were part of broader efforts to decouple the U.S. and Chinese economies and technology sectors.

The administration's decision to eliminate the limits on chip exports to China is expected to be announced as early as Wednesday.

The administration is also planning to increase investments in domestic chip production and create a new task force to coordinate U.S. economic policy in the face of China's economic competition.

The move to scrap the chip export curbs comes in response to lobbying efforts from U.S. tech companies and warnings from economists that the restrictions could backfire by harming the U.S. economy and aiding Chinese competitors in the long term.

The administration is said to be focusing its efforts on a narrower set of technologies with military implications, such as those used in hypersonic missiles, advanced radar systems, and large-scale parallel computing.

Later in the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 284.97 points, or 0.70%, to end at 41,113.97. The S&P 500 gained 0.43% to close at 5,631.28, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite spiked 0.27%, ending at 17,738.16.

The Federal Reserve, in its latest monetary policy decision, opted to leave interest rates unchanged within the targeted range of 4.25%-4.50%. This move was broadly anticipated by economists, with a slight majority of those polled by Dow Jones expecting the central bank to keep rates steady.

However, the Fed did hint at the possibility of further rate increases this year, a factor that could influence the cryptocurrency market.

"We will, of course, factor macroeconomic and financial developments into our consideration at each meeting," Powell said during the press conference following the decision.

"We are mindful of the potential for macroeconomic dangers from President Trump's tariff moves," a Fed spokesperson added in a statement. "These could lead to higher inflation, weaker growth, and an increase in unemployment."

The administration's actions on tariffs have been a subject of debate among economists, with some arguing that they could lead to higher prices for consumers and businesses, ultimately slowing economic growth.

"The Fed is keeping its options open, and I think that's the message that we