Welcome to The Daybook’s Good Friday edition. Today’s updates have also been shortened in markets with shorter Easter Holiday schedules. Coindesk’s Crypto Daybook Americas will return to normal size on Monday, April 21st. Enjoy your holidays!
Francisco Rodrigues (always ET unless otherwise indicated)
It’s Easter. Traditional markets have been closed in many parts of the world, with many people taking breaks from work. This also holds back the crypto market. The Coindesk 20 Index (CD20) is the largest and most active cryptocurrency measure, with Bitcoin (BTC) rising by just 0.1% in the last 24 hours, under 0.1%.
It’s a rather calm response to President Donald Trump’s call for the removal of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Trump criticized Powell for his reluctance to cut interest rates, leaving behind a stepping stone for Bitcoin, adding to the economic uncertainty that he saw Wall Street loaded into money.
Trump said on his social media platform, True Social, Powell was “too late” to lower interest rates, and that he “can’t close quickly enough.” The president’s words come after Powell said the central bank saw unemployment and inflation rising due to the tariffs Trump has imposed on most other countries.
TIT-for-TAT further increased uncertainty, with the S&P 500 closing its shortened trading week at just 0.1%, while the high-tech Nasdaq fell by 0.1%.
“The market is currently very reactionary to the White House decisions and is poised to survive that way for a foreseeable future,” Iraauerbach, tandem head of off-chain labs and former head of digital assets as NASDAQ, told Coindesk.
“Trump’s push to cut rates amid tariff-driven inflation risk could rekindle Bitcoin’s original “hedge against erosion of purchasing power” narrative. Recent risk-off actions can be short-lived as monetary policy uncertainties are strengthened. ”
However, for the time being, the hedge against currency collapse and uncertainty appears to be gold. Precious Metal’s recent bull run means surpassing the S&P 500 in the last 20 years. It includes dividends.
For crypto investors, the signals are mixed. While macro frontal uncertainty is governed, regulatory outlook has improved under the Trump administration, and agencies have shown more comfort in space.
“As tariff implementation and bilateral negotiations unfold, “satisfiing the dust” is probably healthy,” Dydx Foundation CEO Charles D’Haussy told Coindesk. “The consensus of market participants appears to indicate central bank actions after summer.” Keep alerts!