By Ulises Gil, journalist at G&M News.
First, some context: what is the Fed and why does it move Bitcoin?
The Federal Reserve — commonly called “the Fed” — is the Central Bank of the United States. Its main tool for managing the economy is the interest rate: when it raises rates, borrowing money becomes more expensive, which tends to slow down spending and investment. When it cuts rates, money flows more freely, and investors tend to move toward riskier assets — including crypto.
Bitcoin is what financial markets call a “risk-on” asset. That means it tends to rise when investors feel confident and fall when they get nervous. At the current rate of 3.5%–3.75%, investors can earn reliable returns from U.S. Treasury bonds without the volatility of crypto — which often pulls capital away from digital assets. In simple terms: when the Fed sounds tough on inflation, Bitcoin tends to drop. When it sounds more flexible, Bitcoin tends to climb.
What is happening this week
This Wednesday, the Fed concluded its third policy meeting of the year — simultaneously with earnings reports from Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and Google. In total, 20% of the companies in the S&P 500 reported results in the same 72-hour window. That was an unusual amount of market-moving information compressed into a very short period.
The overwhelming expectation is that the Fed will keep rates unchanged, with virtually no probability of a cut. The main reason is persistent inflation and the Fed’s reluctance to ease policy too soon. So the rate decision itself is not the news. What traders will be watching — word by word — is what Fed Chair Jerome Powell says at the press conference that follows. This is also his last press conference before his term expires in May, which adds an additional layer of scrutiny.
On top of that, the latest macro data shows inflation has risen — the Consumer Price Index moved from 2.4% in March to 3.3% in April, partly driven by rising energy prices linked to the ongoing conflict in Iran. A higher inflation number makes rate cuts less likely, which is generally negative for Bitcoin in the short term.
The pattern that operators should understand
Bitcoin has fallen after seven of eight Fed meetings held in 2025, regardless of what the actual decision was — a dynamic known in markets as “selling the news.” In January 2026, even though the Fed simply held rates steady as expected, Bitcoin dropped 7.3% in 48 hours.
This “sell the news” pattern is important for iGaming operators to understand — not because they need to trade Bitcoin, but because it explains the volatility that shows up around these dates. Players depositing or withdrawing in crypto during these windows may experience value swings that affect their experience and, depending on the platform’s conversion setup, the operator’s margins.
The other side of the story
That said, the picture is not uniformly negative. Institutional investors — large funds, asset managers, banks — have been buying Bitcoin steadily through regulated financial products called spot ETFs, which launched in the United States in 2024 and have since accumulated significant assets. Bitcoin ETFs have recorded nine consecutive days of net inflows, with over $2 billion entering the market in recent days — a signal that large, sophisticated investors continue to back Bitcoin as a long-term asset despite short-term uncertainty.
This institutional demand acts as a floor. It does not prevent volatility, but it has changed the structural nature of the market compared to previous years.
What this means for iGaming
The connection between Bitcoin’s macro moment and iGaming is no longer theoretical. In early April 2026, global payments platform Paysafe launched a crypto payment product specifically designed for iGaming operators and daily fantasy sports brands in the U.S. market, powered by MoonPay. The solution allows players to deposit using stablecoins or cryptocurrencies, which are then automatically converted to dollars for gameplay. Paysafe’s own research found that 83% of U.S. players have appetite for crypto payment options.
While traditional casino withdrawals average one to five business days, crypto withdrawals average around ten minutes. That speed difference is increasingly a competitive factor — and a player retention argument that operators are starting to take seriously.
The practical implication for operators is this: crypto payments are becoming a standard feature of the iGaming stack, not an exotic add-on. And as that integration deepens, weeks like this one — where Bitcoin can move 5–8% in 48 hours based on a central bank press conference — become operationally relevant, not just financially interesting.
Operators who have not yet developed a volatility management strategy for their crypto flows are carrying a risk that grows alongside adoption.