Bitcoin (BTC) spiked to two-week highs on March 20 amid rumors that the US government was preparing a “major update” to its crypto policy.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Fed’s Powell injects relief into stocks, crypto

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching nearly $87,500 on Bitstamp.

Currently consolidating near $86,000, Bitcoin benefitted from a fairly cool Federal Reserve meeting the day prior in which officials opted to hold interest rates at current levels.

Policymakers confirmed that they envisage two cuts by the end of 2025, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell describing inflation as having “eased significantly.”

“We do not need to be in a hurry to adjust our policy stance, and we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity,” he said in an opening statement before a press conference that followed the rates decision.

A “wait-and-see” approach was enough to relieve troubled risk assets, with Bitcoin joining US stocks in surging and finishing the day higher. The S&P 500 ended up by around 1% for the March 20 session, adding $500 billion in market cap.

Reacting, Arthur Hayes, former CEO of crypto exchange BitMEX, suggested that the Fed had delivered a key signal for traders to add risk.

“JAYPOW delivered, QT basically over Apr 1. The next thing we need to get bulled up for realz is either SLR exemption and or a restart of QE,” he wrote in a characteristic X post, referring to officials rotating from quantitative tightening to quantitative easing. 

“Was $BTC $77k the bottom, prob. But stonks prob have more pain left to fully convert Jay to team Trump so stay nimble and cashed up.”

S&P 500 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Bitcoin traders eye US crypto announcement

Bitcoin traders nonetheless cared more about a potential change in US crypto posturing as whispers suggested that an announcement could come on March 21.

Related: Bitcoin futures ‘deleveraging’ wipes $10B open interest in 2 weeks

“This would be his first major update since March 6th, when the national crypto reserve was established,” trading resource The Kobeissi Letter summarized in an X post on the topic. 

“Rumors state President Trump may be making a significant change to his strategy.”

When Trump signed an executive order to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve earlier this month, markets stayed surprisingly cool as it emerged that the plan would not necessarily involve the US buying BTC.

However, with the latest daily close above key resistance trend lines, cause for optimism was quickly returning.

“Bitcoin only needs to rally an additional +8% to position itself for a reclaim of the Range above and end this downside deviation,” popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital reported.

“Is that a lot, considering BTC is up almost +13% since last week’s lows?”

BTC/USD 1-week chart. Source: Rekt Capital/X

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.