Fed

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Tuesday morning said the Trump administration is committed to lowering interest rates.

A soft U.S. inflation report later Wednesday will likely bode well for risk assets, including bitcoin. But those expecting bullish fireworks may be disappointed.

In a hearing with the loaded title “A Golden Age of Digital Assets,” the sector was — for the first time — mostly treated as a welcome arrival to U.S. finance.

Under pressure this week, the price of bitcoin dipped to $101,800 in the moments following the decision.

Mining stocks including WULF, BTDR, IREN and HUT dropped over 5%, while BTC holder medical devices firm Semler Scientific plunged 10%.

Altcoin majors, including ether and solana, also rose sharply as U.S. markets opened on the first full week after holidays, with the broad-based CoinDesk 20 advancing 3.5% through the day.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari, who previously called the cryptocurrency industry “worthless” and “nonsense,” still isn’t an uber-bull, though.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech later today could shake up markets as he will face questions about the central bank’s outlook on monetary policy and inflation after Donald Trump’s decisive win in the U.S. presidential election.

Bitcoin (BTC) just hit a new all-time high, but Ethereum’s ether (ETH) is the bigger winner.

Elevated interest rates in the U.S. have dented ether’s appeal as the internet equivalent of a bond, offering a fixed-income-like return on staking.