Fed Chairman Jerome Powell Talks About Gini, Crypto Market Immediately Ambyar

JAKARTA - The Federal Reserve (The Fed) just completed the last meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in 2024 on 19 December. In this meeting, the Fed cut the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points, interest rates to 4.25 - 4.50 percent.

This cut has actually been predicted by many market players and is considered a decision that supports the economy, especially in the midst of heating up global political regulations.

However, the main focus of this meeting came from a statement by the Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell. In a post-meeting press conference, Powell confirmed that the Fed was not allowed to own Bitcoin.

"We are not allowed to own Bitcoin. The current law prohibits it, and we are not seeking legal changes in this regard. That is a matter of Congress," Powell said. The crypto market immediately reacted after the Fed chairman made the statement.

Public optimism regarding the national Bitcoin reserves aka Bitcoin Reserve, which had strengthened since Donald Trump's victory, immediately faded.

Previously, Trump had publicly supported the idea of Bitcoin reserves to strengthen US positions in the digital asset sector. This support also motivates a number of states such as Ohio, Texas, and Pennsylvania to submit proposals for the formation of Bitcoin reserves at the local level.

The crypto market responded negatively to Jerome Powell's statement. The price of Bitcoin fell by more than 5 percent, from around US$108,000 (Rp1.75 billion) slumped below US$100,000 (Rp1.62 billion) based on CoinMarketCap data on Thursday, December 19 yesterday.

Altcoin also suffered the same fate, some even recorded double-digit losses. Massive liquidation also occurred, totaling 869 million US dollars (around Rp. 14.08 trillion) in the last 24 hours, especially from long positions.