The price of Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) has fallen below the $25,000 mark for the first time since March 17 following a hawkish Fed announcement amidanother turbulent week for the crypto industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n Within the span of 30 minutes on June 15, the price of Bitcoin fell 4% from $25,867 to $24,819 according to data<\/a> from TradingView. At the time of publication Bitcoin has regained ground and is holding just above $25,000. <\/p>\n Over the past week Bitcoin had been holding around the $26,000 region as the market came to grips with the SEC\u2019s legal action against<\/a> crypto exchange heavyweights Coinbase and Binance as well as increasing macroeconomic uncertainty around interest rate signals from the United States Federal Reserve. <\/p>\n The sharp drop in price arrived roughly three hours after the Federal Reserve announced<\/a> a pause on interest rate hikes, following a fifteen-month-long campaign of rate increases to combat surging inflation. <\/p>\n While the market was almost unanimously expecting<\/a> a rate pause, the Federal Open Markets Committee statement hinted at further rate hikes in the future, which typically blunts investor excitement for risk assets like cryptocurrencies. <\/p>\n Related: <\/em><\/strong>SEC, CPI and a \u2018strong rebound\u2019 \u2014 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Ether (ETH<\/a>), also took a hit, falling more than 5% from $1,727 to $1,631 in the same time frame. Altcoins were not spared from the bearish sentiment either, with many of the tokens labeled as securities<\/a> in the SEC\u2019s lawsuits stumbling another than 3%. <\/p>\n Cardano (ADA<\/a>) is currently down 3.4% in the last 24 hours, while Polygon (MATIC<\/a>) and Solana (SOL<\/a>) fell 3.3% and 2.8% respectively.<\/p>\n According to Cointelegraph analyst Marc Pechman, current options data for Bitcoin<\/a> suggests a further slide to the downside, especially when considering the regulatory hostility<\/a> towards the crypto industry on U.S. soil combined with the likelihood of further rate increases from the Fed in the coming months. <\/p>\n Magazine: <\/em><\/strong>Bitcoin is on a collision course with \u2018Net Zero\u2019 promises<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/s3.cointelegraph.com\/uploads\/2023-06\/13e9265d-9b18-4748-8eb5-418115f16bff.png\")