Fed's first Warsh test has crypto on pause, but Uniswap clearly didn't get the memo

Bitcoin slipped below $65,000 on June 17, 2026, as traders positioned for the Federal Open Market Committee's first interest-rate decision under new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. BTC $64,293.98 was last seen below the $65,000 mark after trading near $67,000 a day earlier, according to CoinDesk data. The broader market tracked lower, with the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD200) down 1.2% since midnight UTC and all but four constituents in the red.

"The main focus for the week is the FOMC meeting under new leadership, with market expectations of interest rate hikes already priced in through 2027," Laser Digital said in its weekly note. Traders are pricing in no change to the fed funds rate at this meeting and are instead focused on Warsh's post-meeting press conference for signals on his inflation views. Warsh has previously criticized the Fed's frequent press conferences and detailed forecasting and is expected to face questions on his stance. The FOMC decision and press conference are scheduled for Wednesday.

While the rest of the market waited, Uniswap's UNI extended a weeklong rally with a 20% gain over 24 hours, fueled by Standard Chartered's bullish $100-by-2030 forecast and the token's deflationary tokenomics. NEAR, INJ and several stablecoin-related assets fell as much as 8% over the same period.

Derivatives activity told a quieter story. Crypto futures volume dropped 20% in 24 hours to $165 billion, open interest slipped 2.3% to $110 billion, and liquidations fell roughly 44% to about $310 million. Bitcoin's 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV, was hovering near an annualized 39%, a level last seen on June 2 before it spiked to nearly 59% a few days later, with ether's volatility index showing similar stability. In altcoin derivatives, Cardano's ADA stood out, with open interest climbing to 2.26 billion tokens, nearing the record 2.32 billion set on June 6 and recovering from the June 13 low of 2 billion.