BTSE COO: If the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates unchanged, Bitcoin could drop to $70,000

BTSE Chief Operating Officer Jeff Mei stated that if the Federal Reserve maintains interest rates in the first quarter of 2026, Bitcoin could drop to $70,000, and Ethereum could fall to $2,400. However, the Federal Reserve ended quantitative tightening (QT) on December 1 and initiated the "Reserve Management Purchases" (RMPs) program, purchasing about $40 billion in short-term government bonds each month, which some analysts view as "invisible quantitative easing (QE)."

If RMPs continue in the first quarter of 2026, it may inject liquidity and support the prices of risk assets. Mei predicts that Bitcoin could rise to between $92,000 and $98,000, while Ethereum may benefit from Layer-2 scaling improvements and increased DeFi attractiveness, rising to $3,600. Additionally, over $50 billion in ETF inflows and institutional accumulation will further drive the market upward.