Bitcoin Surges 3% As Trump Targets Fed Chair Powell, Markets Rattle on Dollar Slide

Bitcoin surged to its highest level since early April on Monday, 15 April, climbing over 3 per cent to breach $87,600, according to Bloomberg, as markets reacted sharply to US President Donald Trump’s attempts to remove Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. The move sparked fears over the Fed’s autonomy, dragging down the dollar and fuelling demand for alternative assets such as cryptocurrencies and gold.

The rally in Bitcoin reversed most of the decline triggered by Trump’s 2 April “Liberation Day” tariff announcement, which had disrupted global markets. The dollar index dropped to its lowest since January 2024 after White House Economic Adviser Kevin Hassett confirmed the President was exploring his authority to dismiss Powell. “The president and his team will continue to study that matter,” Hassett told reporters at the White House, when pressed on the issue.

Investor anxiety surged amid Trump’s renewed criticism of Powell, who recently held interest rates steady despite increasing tariff-induced volatility. In a Truth Social post, Trump declared: “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough.”

Cryptocurrencies and gold, seen as hedges against inflation and instability, rallied in response. Gold hit an all-time high alongside Bitcoin, highlighting a flight to safety. “USD weakness is driving the rally in crypto,” said Sean McNulty, APAC derivatives trading lead at FalconX, a digital-asset prime brokerage. He added that “thin holiday liquidity” in crypto markets had “exaggerated” the scale of the movement.

The financial unease comes just weeks after Bridgewater Associates’ billionaire co-chief investment officer Ray Dalio warned of a looming US recession potentially “more severe than 2008.” Dalio’s remarks, made in a recent investor note, underline growing concerns about America’s fiscal trajectory under Trump’s trade and monetary policies.

Trump’s tariff-heavy strategy has upended traditional trade routes and shaken investor confidence. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren cautioned last month that Trump’s intentions regarding Powell represented a threat to institutional integrity, saying, “Nobody is safe.”

While the US Constitution provides some ambiguity over the dismissal of a Fed chair mid-term, any such move would be unprecedented and could trigger what some analysts term an “apocalyptic scenario” for global markets.

As the dollar loses ground, it appears that risk-averse investors are moving toward more stable assets, which boosts both digital and physical stores of value. The increasing use of Bitcoin, already up significantly year-to-date and potentially more so if political and financial uncertainty continues into the US elections.

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