Bitcoin Surges As Monero Zooms To New Record Price Amid Escalating Trump-Powell Feud ⋆ ZyCrypto

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) and other top cryptocurrencies jumped on late Sunday as President Donald Trump’s escalating rivalry with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spooked investors.

BTC climbed 1.3% to as high as $92,356, while Ether, the industry’s second-biggest crypto by market cap, gained 1.8% to $3,163, according to CoinGecko data. Solana led among the crypto majors, up 4.5% to $143.55.

The rally was evident across the wider crypto market, where privacy-preserving tokens emerged as the top performers. Monero reached a new all-time high earlier today amid renewed interest in privacy, surpassing $595.96. Meanwhile, privacy-focused Bitcoin alternative Zcash also surged 6.5% to $415.94.

DOJ Action Against Fed’s Powell

The rally came as the Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into the sitting U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, over the agency’s $2.5 billion renovation of its headquarters and whether Powell lied to Congress about the size of the project. 

Powell slammed the Trump administration over the criminal indictment, arguing it’s the latest attempt to destroy the central bank’s independence on interest rates.

He posited in a Sunday statement that the investigation is “a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President.”

Trump has long condemned Federal Reserve policies, specifically its reluctance to grant his demand to aggressively cut interest rates to stimulate economic growth. Since his return to the White House, the President has continually nudged Fed Chairman Powell to slash rates more aggressively, even calling him a “numbskull” and threatening to make significant changes to pressure monetary policy.

Trump has oftentimes called for interest rates to drop to 1% or lower. While the Fed cut rates by 25 basis points last month to 3.5%, it’s still expected to be on hold at least until March and is unlikely to return to ultra-low rates in the foreseeable future.

“This escalation in Trump’s war against the Fed smells like Powell not stepping down from the board after his role as Chair ends… they want to make his life hell to try to force it,” Quinn Thompson, CIO of Lekker Capital, wrote in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), suggesting the fight could create a leadership vacuum at the central bank.

Bitcoin has since retraced back to $91,278.84 as of publication time, as tensions between Powell and President Trump continue to weigh on crypto markets.