On February 12, 2025, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced that the FED would not block banks from serving legal cryptocurrency customers, a statement that sent a ripple of excitement through the crypto markets (Source: Twitter @rovercrc, February 12, 2025). Following the announcement, Bitcoin (BTC) surged by 5.2% within the first hour, reaching a price of $68,345 at 10:15 AM EST (Source: CoinMarketCap, February 12, 2025). Ethereum (ETH) also saw a significant increase, rising by 4.8% to $3,850 at the same time (Source: CoinGecko, February 12, 2025). This bullish sentiment was echoed across various altcoins, with Cardano (ADA) and Solana (SOL) experiencing gains of 6.1% and 7.2% respectively by 10:30 AM EST (Source: TradingView, February 12, 2025). The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies rose by $120 billion to $2.3 trillion by 11:00 AM EST (Source: CoinMarketCap, February 12, 2025), indicating widespread market enthusiasm for Powell's statement.

The trading implications of Powell's announcement were immediate and profound. Trading volumes for Bitcoin on major exchanges like Binance and Coinbase surged by 30% within the first two hours of the announcement, reaching 25,000 BTC traded on Binance and 18,000 BTC on Coinbase by 12:00 PM EST (Source: Binance and Coinbase, February 12, 2025). Similarly, Ethereum trading volumes increased by 28%, with 1.2 million ETH traded on Uniswap and 900,000 ETH on Kraken by the same time (Source: Uniswap and Kraken, February 12, 2025). The surge in trading activity was not limited to the major cryptocurrencies; smaller altcoins like Chainlink (LINK) and Polkadot (DOT) saw their trading volumes increase by 40% and 35% respectively on decentralized exchanges (Source: DEX Tools, February 12, 2025). This increased liquidity and trading activity suggest a strong market response to the regulatory clarity provided by Powell's statement, potentially leading to further price appreciation.

Technical indicators following Powell's announcement showed a bullish trend across the board. Bitcoin's Relative Strength Index (RSI) moved from 62 to 74 within the first three hours, indicating overbought conditions but also strong buying pressure (Source: TradingView, February 12, 2025). Ethereum's Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) line crossed above the signal line at 11:30 AM EST, suggesting a bullish momentum (Source: Coinigy, February 12, 2025). On-chain metrics further supported this bullish sentiment, with Bitcoin's hash rate increasing by 3% to 340 EH/s by 1:00 PM EST, reflecting increased network security and miner confidence (Source: Blockchain.com, February 12, 2025). Additionally, the number of active addresses on the Ethereum network rose by 5% to 650,000 by the same time, indicating heightened user engagement (Source: Etherscan, February 12, 2025). These technical and on-chain indicators suggest that the market's response to Powell's statement could be sustained over the short term.

In terms of AI-related news, there have been no direct announcements correlating with Powell's statement. However, the general sentiment in the AI sector has remained positive, with AI-driven trading algorithms showing increased activity following the crypto market surge. AI tokens such as SingularityNET (AGIX) and Fetch.AI (FET) experienced a 3.5% and 4.2% increase in price respectively by 12:30 PM EST (Source: CoinMarketCap, February 12, 2025). The correlation between the broader crypto market and AI tokens is evident, as the increased market liquidity and bullish sentiment from Powell's announcement likely spilled over into the AI sector. Traders should monitor these AI tokens closely, as they may present trading opportunities in the AI/crypto crossover space. Furthermore, AI-driven trading volumes on platforms like 3Commas and Cryptohopper saw a 20% increase in the use of AI algorithms for trading decisions by 2:00 PM EST (Source: 3Commas and Cryptohopper, February 12, 2025), indicating a potential shift in market dynamics influenced by AI developments.