Bitcoin slides, Fed keeps interest rates steady

Bitcoin price dropped to as low as US$56,600 on Wednesday leading to the FOMC meeting, where the central bank left its interest rates unchanged at 5.25% and 5.5%.

“Inflation has eased over the past year but remains elevated. In recent months, there has been a lack of further progress toward the Committees 2 percent inflation objective,” the Fed said in a press release on Wednesday.

In March, inflation accelerated in the U.S. with the consumer price index rising from 3.2% in February to 3.5% on an annual basis, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Standard Chartered projects a further decline to US$50,000, according to The Block.

Bitcoin started dropping from over US$60,000 and has slightly recovered to US$57,708 after the Federal Reserves announcement, CoinGecko data shows.

The price drop comes despite positive developments for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency industry, including the launch of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in Hong Kong on Tuesday.

The Bitcoin network underwent the quadrennial halving on April 20, cutting miner rewards by 50% from 6.25 to 3.125 Bitcoins.

The halving impacts the scarcity of the asset by slowing down the inflow of new Bitcoins.

Standard Chartereds year-end price prediction for Bitcoin is US$150,000.