Crypto Stumbles, Market Digests Fed Minutes
Bitcoin weakened again on Thursday (February 19th), continuing its correction phase as the market reassesses the direction of US interest rates following the hawkish tone of the Fed's meeting minutes. This has made market participants more selective about riskier assets, including crypto.
At the same time, risk-off sentiment has strengthened amid escalating US-Iran geopolitical tensions. Fund flows tend to seek defensive assets, while crypto remains restrained and appears to be lagging behind precious metals, which benefit from increased safe-haven demand.
In the latest update, Bitcoin (BTC) fell to $66,459, with a daily range of $65,683–$67,252.
The main pressure came from the combination of a strong US dollar and persistently high yields, after the minutes emphasized that the Fed does not yet have a "one-way street" towards cutting. In fact, some officials still left room for further tightening if inflation becomes stubborn again—a narrative that is usually unfriendly to speculative assets.
Altcoins also weakened. Ethereum (ETH) fell 2.73% to $1,920.97, while XRP fell 4.11% to $1.40.
Pressure was also seen in several other major coins: Solana (SOL) -1.86% to $80.84, Cardano (ADA) -3.37% to $0.2703, and BNB -2.82% to $599.83.
In the memecoin segment, Dogecoin fell 2.58% to $0.0972. Overall, the crypto market is still awaiting new catalysts—especially the next batch of US data—to determine whether the dollar-yield pressure subsides or persists.
Source: Newsmaker.id
