{"id":6790,"date":"2026-02-19T12:28:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T12:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6790"},"modified":"2026-02-19T12:28:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T12:28:38","slug":"bitcoin-slips-below-66k-as-hawkish-fed-minutes-rattle-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6790","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin Slips Below $66K as Hawkish Fed Minutes Rattle Markets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div id=\"blockquote-block_158b06a8cd732b2075236254ca0ed165\" class=\"blockquote-container\" style=\"border-color: #5100fc\">\n<div class=\"blockquote-text\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bitcoin fell below US$66,000 following hawkish Federal Reserve minutes, marking its longest weekly losing streak since the 2022 bear market.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A rising US dollar and potential rate hike discussions shifted risk sentiment, causing reversals in crypto-related equities like Coinbase and Strategy.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Crypto Fear and Greed Index hit a record low of 5 as Michael Burry warned that Bitcoin is behaving as a speculative asset rather than a hedge.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Risk appetite faded late in the day as the crypto market and US stocks gave back much of their early advance after minutes from the Federal Reserve\u2019s January meeting struck a more hawkish tone than expected.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While policymakers broadly supported pausing rate cuts, several discussed adopting \u201ctwo-sided\u201d guidance that could leave room for rate hikes if inflation remains sticky. The US dollar strengthened further following the minutes, with the dollar index (DXY) rising to its highest level in nearly two weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A firmer dollar often weighs on risk assets, and Bitcoin\u2019s (BTC) late-session drop tracked that pattern.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-bitcoin-slides-below-us-66k\">Bitcoin Slides Below US$66K<\/h2>\n<p>Bitcoin (BTC) slid below US$66,000 (AU$100,980) on Wednesday, ending the US trading session near lows and putting pressure back on the bottom of its recent trading range.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>BTC was last around US$66.2K (AU$101K), down about 2.5% over 24 hours after trading near US$68,500 (AU$104,805) overnight.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full variant-no-border\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"873\" height=\"515\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-132949 lazyload\" sizes=\"(max-width: 873px) 100vw, 873px\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/02\/19153612\/image-13.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/02\/19153612\/image-13.png 873w, https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/02\/19153612\/image-13-768x453.png 768w\" data-eio-rwidth=\"873\" data-eio-rheight=\"515\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"873\" height=\"515\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/02\/19153612\/image-13.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-132949\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/02\/19153612\/image-13.png 873w, https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/02\/19153612\/image-13-768x453.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 873px) 100vw, 873px\" data-eio=\"l\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">BTC\/USD. Source: TradingView.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With the decline, Bitcoin is on pace for a fifth straight weekly loss, its longest losing streak since the 2022 bear market. Traders are also watching the US$66,000 area after it held support last week and helped push BTC above US$70,000 (AU$107,100). A decisive break could shift attention to the early-February lows near US$60,000 (AU$91,800).<\/p>\n<p>Risk sentiment indicators remained weak as the Crypto Fear and Greed Index fell to 5 on Feb. 12, its lowest reading on record, reflecting broad aversion to risk.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: Stripe-Owned Bridge Wins Conditional OCC Approval to Become National Crypto Bank<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, crypto-related equities reversed earlier gains as the decline accelerated. Coinbase shares swung from roughly 3% higher in the morning to about 2% lower by the afternoon. Strategy, the largest corporate holder of BTC, fell about 3%.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s worth noting that Investor Michael Burry warned in a Substack post that further Bitcoin declines could translate into meaningful losses for publicly listed companies with crypto exposure and potentially spill over into other markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He argued BTC has traded more like a speculative asset than a hedge, contrasting its recent weakness with gold and silver hitting record highs amid geopolitical tensions and currency concerns.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more: BlackRock Seeds US$100K to Launch Yield-Bearing Staked Ethereum ETF<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Bitcoin,Federal Reserve#Bitcoin #Slips #66K #Hawkish #Fed #Minutes #Rattle #Markets1771504118<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bitcoin fell below US$66,000 following hawkish Federal Reserve minutes, marking its longest weekly losing streak since the 2022 bear market. A rising US dollar and potential rate hike discussions shifted risk sentiment, causing reversals in crypto-related equities like Coinbase and Strategy. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index hit a record low of 5 as Michael<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2643,91,683,2049,450,2186,2644,2642],"class_list":{"0":"post-6790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bitcoin","8":"tag-66k","9":"tag-bitcoin","10":"tag-fed","11":"tag-hawkish","12":"tag-markets","13":"tag-minutes","14":"tag-rattle","15":"tag-slips"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bitcoin Slips Below $66K as Hawkish Fed Minutes Rattle Markets - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6790\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bitcoin Slips Below $66K as Hawkish Fed Minutes Rattle Markets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bitcoin fell below US$66,000 following hawkish Federal Reserve minutes, marking its longest weekly losing streak since the 2022 bear market. 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