Bitcoin Decoupling? BTC Rises as Equity Markets Swoon

The price of Bitcoin hovered near $87,300 on Monday, despite U.S. President Donald Trump applying fresh pressure on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, which sent equity markets tailspinning.

Referring to Powell as “Mr. Too Late” on Truth Social, Trump said that now is the time for the U.S. central bank to lower borrowing costs, pushing back on economists’ fears that doing so would add to inflation as consumers and businesses navigate higher input costs from tariffs.

“Powell has always been ‘To[o] Late,’” Trump added, referencing a pandemic-era increase in costs that Fed policymakers misdiagnosed as transitory, while calling Powell “a major loser.”

Bitcoin was recently up 2.9% over the past 24 hours, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. Altcoins were mixed, with Solana falling 1.2% to $135 while Dogecoin rose 1.6%. XRP was roughly flat. 

The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), which measures shifts in the dollar’s value relative to a basket of other currencies, pared losses on Monday after hitting its lowest level since February 2022. The measure recently stood at 98.3 after falling as low as 98, according to TradingView.

While the greenback has historically served as a safe-haven asset, investors may be turning to gold and Bitcoin as Trump’s threats test the Fed’s independence and the global financial system’s status quo, Bitwise Senior Investment Analyst Juan Leon told Decrypt.

“Further weakening of trust in government institutions [also] creates a bid for alternative stores of value like Bitcoin and gold,” he added.

The price of gold surged 3.9% on Monday, setting a new high of $3,442 per ounce, according to Yahoo Finance. The S&P 500 plunged 2.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 3%.

Bitcoin has notched modest gains since Trump’s “Liberation Day” this month, marked by sweeping tariffs on 180 nations. But it’s continued to show strength against other risk assets, according to Steven Lubka, Head of Private Clients at Swan Bitcoin.

“There were some short term candles into the 70s, but apart from that, [the downside] was fairly limited,” he said. “Bitcoin has performed historically better than it has in the past, already signaling some sort of divergence.”

Trump’s rhetoric grew more critical of Powell after the official spoke before the Economic Club of Chicago last week, maintaining a cautious outlook about rate cuts and the economy. Trump later remarked that the Fed chair’s termination “cannot come fast enough,” hinting at what would be a showdown without historical precedent.

Edited by James Rubin