The crypto market extended losses this week with digital asset company shares also suffering amid a growing wariness of the state of the US economy – and how the US Federal Reserve is reacting to that.
Investors Wait for Fed Signals After Crypto Assets, Stocks Slump
20 August 2025 - 10:19 CEST
By Giles Broom
The CMC100 gauge of crypto coins plunged more than 10% since last week’s high, with Bitcoin’s (BTC) 14 August record peak proving short-lived. The original cryptocurrency shed 9.5% to below $113,000 on Tuesday, before showing nascent signs of recovery the following day.
Traders have also sold off Altcoins over the past seven days:
Ether (ETH): -9.3%
XRP: -11%
Solana (SOL): -8.3%
Dogecoin (DOGE): -11%
The Fed plans to release minutes of its July Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) at 18:00UTC on Wednesday, with further commentary expected when Chair Jerome Powell makes remarks at the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday. Powell has survived intense political pressure from the White House and US Treasury to adopt a rosier outlook for the US economy, with the Trump administration spreading a narrative that the President’s tariffs aren’t causing inflation.
Last week’s producer price index data suggested that American consumers will soon feel the pinch of high prices in stores, corroborating companies’ concerns about the rising cost of imports to the world’s largest economy. That’s softened general expectations for an easing of monetary policy next month, with an 85% probability of an interest rate cut next month, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool. That’s down from almost 100% about a week ago.
Companies with crypto treasury strategies also took a beating in Tuesday trading.
Shares in Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, declined 7.4%. Bitmine Immersion Technologies lost 9.3% while Galaxy Digital slumped 10%. Crypto exchange Coinbase also posted losses, down 5.8%, extending this month’s decline to more than 20%.
