📈 The Rate Cut That Broke the Rally

The Fed’s second rate cut came with a cold warning — no more to come. The dollar spiked, Bitcoin sank, and traders panicked. Meanwhile: Meta’s tax hit and Vitalik’s $14K CatCoin sale.

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Cryptopolitan News
October 30, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Jerome Powell made a significant announcement.

After cutting rates for the second time in a row, the Fed Chair indicated that markets should not expect further rate cuts, which was not well-received.

The dollar popped 0.6% to 99.28, the euro crashed 0.56%, and the odds of a December cut were obliterated from 85% to 62% within minutes.

Stocks turned red after hitting new intraday highs:

In addition to the stock market reactions, Bitcoin also experienced a significant drop of 5% to $109,600, nearly erasing the week's gains.

Behind the Scenes

Powell confirmed what the market suspected behind closed doors: the Fed is split. Some want a pause, others want to slash more.

He described it as "a time of strong views across the committee.”

He also said:

  • Balance sheet runoff stops Dec 1 after shrinking $2T since 2022. .

  • Shutdown data gap means December's decision will be difficult: "We are flying partly blind.”

  • Tariffs add 0.5–0.6% to inflation, without them, the U.S. would already be near the Fed's 2% goal. .

  • Subprime defaults are rising, mostly in auto loans, "but not systemic yet," he said.

The Real-World Impact

Powell highlighted what he termed a “bifurcated economy.”

Lower-income people are “buying less and switching to lower-cost products,” while wealthier consumers “keep spending.”

That break: together with tariff pressure, is keeping the Fed on its toes.

🪙 Crypto Angle

Bitcoin’s reaction shows how dependent digital assets have become on macro signals.

With the Fed’s new tone, liquidity may tighten again through year-end, reducing the inflows that produced BTC’s second-highest spot volume month in October.

Traders are already trimming exposure as Powell confirms fewer rate cuts ahead. Altcoins are down 10%+ this week, and stablecoin inflows to exchanges fell 11% daily, according to CryptoQuant.

⚡ Quick Explainer: Why rate cuts matter

  • If Powell doesn’t cut: yields remain elevated, the dollar strengthens, and risk assets, from crypto to tech, are likely to weaken short term as money flows away from them.

  • If Powell cuts again: liquidity floods back, and an AI + Bitcoin rally could explode before year-end.

If the Fed holds rates steady in December, what moves first?

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📊 Market Watch

1️⃣ Vitalik Dumps Again

Vitalik Buterin sold 275T CatCoin for $14.2K undermining his habit of avoiding unsolicited memecoins. CAT reacted with a 0.3% drop. Despite the $1B SHIB sale in 2021, Buterin’s stance hasn’t altered: “Anything sent to me gets donated.” The wallet balance skyrocketed to $973.5M, mainly in ETH.

2️⃣ Bitcoin’s Big October

BTC had its second-highest spot volume month, scoring $300B in October Binance: $174B. However, about two weeks later, the month ended at –2.7%, almost near $110K. Exchange reserves dropped to 2.38M BTC, paving the way for continued outflows to self-custody as whales bought the dip silently.

3️⃣ Meta’s AI Surge, VR Pain

Meta’s Q3 revenue rose by 26% to $51.2B, but net income crashed by 83% to $2.7B due to a one-time $15.9B tax clampdown. Reality Labs alone dropped $4.4B, chasing total metaverse losses to $70B since 2020. Despite the disaster quarter, ad revenue and AI hardware expansion kept Meta on pace to hit a $56–59B Q4 guide.

 📉 Chart our analyst is watching

💥 HYPE cools after $50 rejection

Hyperliquid (HYPE) failed to hold above the $50 resistance, sliding back to around $46 after a brief rally driven by whale activity and recent buybacks.

  • Open interest: still elevated above $1.9B, showing traders remain active despite the pullback.

  • Whales: order sizes continue to grow, suggesting ongoing positioning rather than exit flows.

  • Mindshare: down 30% over two weeks, though sentiment has shifted from neutral to mildly bullish.

  • Token burns: steady at $3M/day, maintaining on-chain momentum.

  • Unlock risk: next linear unlock starts Nov 29, adding roughly $10M/day in circulating value.

The HYPE chart reflects a healthy cooldown after testing a major resistance, with derivatives and burn activity still showing strong engagement beneath the surface.

 🐤 Top Tweets

Headline picks by our Social Media Lead

🎭 Culture Watch

Crypto Twitter exploded after DeFiLlama founder 0xngmi accused Blockworks of reselling its free data on a paid $4,500/year dashboard, just hours after Blockworks’ co-founder Jason Yanowitz announced the company was shutting down its news division to go “data first.”

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