Bitcoin Surges 15% to $88.8K Amid Fed-Trump Tensions

Bitcoin (BTC) briefly decoupled from U.S. stocks amid escalating tensions between the Federal Reserve and President Donald Trump. This decoupling was marked by BTC's rally to an April high of $88.8K just before the U.S. market trading session opened on Tuesday. The move was significant as it contrasted with the subdued performance of BTC and risk-on U.S. stocks since the declaration of ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs in early April.

Gold also reached a record high of $3.5K per ounce, reflecting a broader flight to ‘safe haven’ assets amid Trump’s threats to Fed independence. Crypto trading firm QCP Capital noted that this move underscored a broader shift away from U.S. equities, Treasuries, and the dollar as concerns around Federal Reserve independence escalated. Trump's criticism of Fed Chair Jerome Powell for being ‘too late’ to cut interest rates and his threats to oust him before his term ends next year contributed to the market reaction, which was swift and negative for the U.S. dollar and stocks, but positive for BTC and gold.

In other news, stablecoin giant Circle unveiled a new cross-border payment network (CPN) aimed at rivaling SWIFT, Mastercard, and Ripple. The CPN aims to solve the issues of current platforms like SWIFT, which can take up to three days and incur 6% fees on the transferable amount. Circle stated that with CPN, banks and payment providers can move money at internet speed using fully reserved digital dollars and euros. Nic Carter, partner at Castle Island and former Fidelity crypto analyst, noted that the move would be an ‘equivalent of SWIFT.’

The competition with Ripple, whose business model also hinges on cross-border payments, remains to be seen. Meanwhile, XRP could face another regulatory hiccup following a recent Oregon Attorney General (AG) complaint against Coinbase. The suit claimed that XRP, Solana [SOL], and 29 other tokens have been traded on the platform as unregistered ‘crypto securities.’ However, Coinbase slammed the complaint for several omissions, including Judge Analisa Torres’ decision on XRP that only sales to institutional investors amounted to a ‘security.’

Finally, on Monday, pro-crypto Paul Atkins was sworn in as the 34th SEC chairman. This followed a U.S. Senate confirmation on 9 April 2025 and a hearing where he pledged a ‘rational’ crypto regulation. Following his swearing-in, Nate Geraci of ETF Store projected pending applications, including staking on ETH ETFs, would be fast-tracked.