Bitcoin Tops $92,000 As DOJ Subpoenas Escalate | Crypto News
Bitcoin pushed above the $92,000 degree late-Sunday as a legal escalation around Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell grew to become public. The catalyst was Powell’s resolution to publicly tackle Department of Justice subpoenas and a felony probe he characterised as political strain tied to the administration’s price preferences.
In a video launched Sunday night, Powell instantly addressed US President Donald Trump: “The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Fed setting rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President.”
BREAKING: Fed Chair Powell responds after Federal prosecutors open a felony investigation into him:
“The risk of felony fees is a consequence of the Fed setting charges based on our best evaluation of what will serve the public, relatively than following the preferences of… pic.twitter.com/y1dRdoQ1fm
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) January 12, 2026
Bitcoin Community Reacts To The News
The Bitcoin and broader crypto market responded immediately with a respectable push increased, while “metals [were] blasting to new highs,” as analyst Will Clemente wrote via X.
The timing issues for crypto merchants: the Fed is heading into its January 28 assembly with the market more and more primed for a pause in cuts, amplifying sensitivity to any notion that financial coverage is being pulled into partisan battle.
For Bitcoin-native observers, the episode read like a real-time stress check of institutional trust: one that flatters Bitcoin’s pitch. Clemente added via X: “This environment is literally what Bitcoin was created for. The President is coming after the Fed chair. Metals are ripping as sovereigns diversify reserves. Stocks & risk assets at record highs. Geopolitical risk rising.”
Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy, put the distinction in financial regimes entrance and middle, arguing that Bitcoin’s “credibly neutral, predictable, transparent, and censorship resistant monetary policy looks pretty good here,” after flagging Powell’s view that the subpoenas are “pretexts” for administrative meddling in financial coverage.
Others used the second to widen the indictment past any single persona. Bitwise advisor Jeff Park argued that “independence alone cannot be a virtue when the institution at its core is incompetent,” including that “the age of Bitcoin is drawing nearer.” Walker, a distinguished pro-Bitcoin voice, framed it as a structural downside: “The problem isn’t President Trump or Jerome Powell. The problem is a centralized cabal of unelected banker-bureaucrats set the price of money and print it out of thin air.”
Notably, the bullish reflex wasn’t rooted in sympathy for Powell. Strive CEO Matt Cole wrote he had “zero sympathy” for the Fed chair and accused the central bank of “gaslight[ing] the American people” on independence, concluding: “Bitcoin is even more underpriced than we realized…”
Bitcoin’s transfer through $92,000 places that narrative onto a price chart, but the same political-legal suggestions loop that fuels the “neutral money” thesis can also intensify volatility. “For the first time ever, Fed Chair Powell is fighting back: Over the last 12 months, Fed Chair Powell has remained silent amid President Trump’s criticisms,” The Kobeissi Letter wrote via X, including: “Today, that changed. […] Trump vs Powell will result in even more volatility.”
At press time, Bitcoin traded at $91,560.
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