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Bitcoin fell toward $74,000 on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said he would support a rate increase at the central bank’s December meeting, Cointribune reported. US stock futures moved lower alongside the token, according to Crypto Briefing.
Waller made the remarks in London on November 10, 2026, the same day the October Consumer Price Index was published. He backed a 25 basis point increase at the December 8-9 Federal Open Market Committee meeting and said a 50 basis point move should be considered if core CPI rises 0.3% or more month over month, BusinessLine and Crypto Briefing both reported.
Also read: Bitcoin Steadies Near $82K as Warsh Avoids Rate-Hike Signal
Key facts
- Waller said he would favor a 25 basis point hike in December even if inflation data showed improvement from the prior month, per BusinessLine.
- October CPI rose 0.4% month over month, with core CPI at 0.3%, above the 0.3% headline increase analysts expected, Cointribune reported.
- Market-implied odds of a December rate hike jumped to roughly 97%, up from about 85% before the CPI release, according to Cointribune and Crypto Briefing.
- Bitcoin traded between the mid-$74,000s and low-$75,000s on Tuesday, with CoinGecko data cited by Crypto Briefing showing $74,350 and a market cap of $1.5 trillion.
- September PCE inflation was 3.7%, with core PCE at 3.1% year over year, against the Fed’s 2% target, Waller said, per BusinessLine.
A tightening signal delivered into a hot CPI print
Waller framed the decision around the Fed’s reputation. Failing to act, he argued, would hurt the central bank’s credibility given inflation that is too high and appears to be broadening out. BusinessLine noted that more than 70% of the components of core PCE services inflation rose 3% or more in September.
He also pointed to the labor market as solid, with worker demand and supply roughly balanced, and said GDP grew at a 3.4% annualized rate last quarter. He did not mention last week’s midterms, which gave Democrats majorities in both chambers of Congress, BusinessLine reported.
The reports differ on detail. Cointribune described Waller’s 25 basis point scenario as the central case and cited experts who do not rule out a 50 basis point tightening. BusinessLine reported specifically that Waller said a 50 basis point hike should be considered if core consumer prices rise 0.3% or more from September. Crypto Briefing said that half-point path is the part markets have not fully absorbed.
Cointribune also reported a reallocation toward the dollar and Treasuries, with the US 10-year yield rising toward roughly 4.9% from about 4.7% before the CPI release. It cited commentary from the account Gordon Gekko on X describing the post-data drop as manipulation designed to provoke panic and eject leveraged positions. That claim is opinion, not an established fact.
Why it matters
A December hike was largely treated as a live possibility before Tuesday; the combination of a firm CPI reading and an explicit endorsement from a sitting governor moved it into near-certainty in market pricing. That shift lifts the cost of holding risk assets and has already fed through to Bitcoin spot ETF flows, which Cointribune described as turning to sell pressure and withdrawals. Bitcoin’s move tracks a broader risk-off turn in equity futures rather than anything specific to crypto markets.
What to watch
The threshold Waller named is concrete: core CPI at 0.3% month over month or above opens the 50 basis point conversation that current pricing does not reflect. The next scheduled decision point is the December 8-9 FOMC meeting, and the $74,000 level is the support zone traders are watching in the meantime. This is not financial advice; cryptocurrency prices are volatile and can move sharply in either direction.
Reported by Cointribune.
Sources: Cointribune, BusinessLine, Crypto Briefing