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  • 🤔 Powell cut rates. Markets cheered, Bitcoin didn’t

🤔 Powell cut rates. Markets cheered, Bitcoin didn’t

PLUS: Powell signals caution, Trump pressures the Fed, BTC loses its Asian bid, silver rips, CFTC builds a crypto council, and a new “AfterDark ETF” rewrites trading logic.

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Cryptopolitan News
December 11, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Jerome Powell handed out his third rate cut of the year, but the message he packaged with it was anything but dovish.

The Fed cut rates, decreasing them by 25 bps to somewhere in the range of 3.5–3.75 percent, but markets left with an entirely different understanding:

The cutting cycle is not longer regular, politics is closing in and the data that the Fed relies on may be unreliable due to government shutdown.

The background is anything but simple.

Trump has already announced he’ll replace Powell early next year with somebody who cuts faster. He’s also involved in a Supreme Court case that is pursuing to oust Fed Governor Lisa Cook (an unprecedented move that could redraw the lines between the central bank and politics).

Powell declined to comment, but the political heat is gradually growing less subtle.

Powell was asked what kind of mark he will leave. His response was almost painfully simple:

❝

2% inflation, strong labor market. That’s what I want.

The hawkish cut

For markets, yesterday’s cut came with clear friction inside the FOMC:

  • Three officials dissented

  • Powell has said no more hikes

  • But he also refused to commit to further cuts

  • The Fed is now forecasting just one cut in 2026

It was a “yes, but” decision: a cut marked by a blinking caution light.

Powell also warned that the shutdown-distorted economic data may be unreliable for weeks, meaning traders should expect choppy reactions each time a new report hits.

Markets loved It… Bitcoin didn’t

Stocks ripped:

  1. Dow +587 pts

  2. S&P 500 at new highs

  3. Russell 2000 leading the charge

But Bitcoin broke pattern.

BTC’s strongest buying for months has been the Asian hours (a quiet but consistent tailwind that defended every dip). BTC slipped below $91K after Asia failed to provide support to the short lived rate-cut driven rally.

Around ~$175M in BTC longs got liquidated, pulling sentiment back into Fear. The bid that sent Bitcoin flying through the summer months simply did not materialize.

Cryptopolitan’s take

A divided Fed, unreliable data, an election cycle, and Asia stepping back from the Bitcoin bid all point to one thing:

The next leg of the BTC journey could depend less on Fed policy and more on real demand: ETFs, institutions, and anyone else who steps up when volatility jumps.

📊 Market Watch

1️⃣ Pump.fun leads Solana in buybacks, but PUMP still can’t pump

99% of the fees paid into the PUMP ecosystem have been used to buy back and burn tokens = $205M, 13.86% reduction in supply. But the token hasn’t flinched: PUMP is off ~55% in 3 months, open interest pared back to $183M and whale-type activity is missing.

Solana meme trading has gone from 80% → ~5% of DEX volume, and buybacks alone can’t lift the mood.

2️⃣ CFTC creates crypto “CEO Council” with Polymarket, Kraken, Gemini

The CFTC has established a top-tier Innovation Council, with members who span from Polymarket to Gemini and Kraken and Crypto.com and major exchanges including Nasdaq, CME, ICE and Cboe.

With members from the digital assets council advising on tokenization, prediction markets, perpetuals and trading 24/7, a part of acting chairperson Caroline Pham’s final crypto-friendly push before Trump nominee Mike Tselig takes over.

3️⃣ Silver surges 114% YTD, analysts now project triple-digit prices in 2026

Silver just hit $62.88/oz, an all-time high, more than doubling in 2025 and outpacing gold’s +60% run.

Three forces are driving it: tight supply, safe-haven demand, and booming industrial use (solar, EVs, data centers, AI hardware).

Analysts now openly project $100 silver.

 đŸ‘€ Are you watching this?

A new filing details the Nicholas Bitcoin & Treasuries AfterDark ETF, which would purchase BTC-linked products when the U.S. market is closed and sell when markets open.

Backtests show a dramatic split:

  • 📈 +222% — buying BTC exposure at close, selling at open (since Jan 2024)

  • 📉 â€“40.5% — buying at open, selling at close

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