Bitcoin's value took a sharp 4% dive following the Federal Reserve's decision to maintain interest rates for the time being. However, the central bank also projected future rate hikes later this year.

The price of Bitcoin has dropped below $25,000 for the first time since March 17, following a hawkish announcement from the Federal Reserve amidst another volatile week for the cryptocurrency industry.

According to TradingView data, Bitcoin experienced a 4% decline within a 30-minute period on June 15, dropping from $25,867 to $24,819. However, as of the time of publication, Bitcoin had managed to recover and was trading slightly above the $25,000 mark.

During the previous week, Bitcoin maintained its position around the $26,000 level as market participants dealt with the legal actions taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission against major cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Binance. Additionally, there was growing uncertainty in the macroeconomic landscape due to signals regarding interest rates from the United States Federal Reserve.

The significant decrease in price occurred approximately three hours subsequent to the Federal Reserve's announcement of a temporary halt on raising interest rates. This decision came after a prolonged 15-month effort to counter escalating inflation through rate hikes.

Despite widespread expectations of a rate pause, the recent statement by the Federal Open Markets Committee suggested the possibility of future rate hikes. This typically dampens investor enthusiasm for high-risk assets such as cryptocurrencies.

According to eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has made it quite clear that this is only a temporary pause, something that could spell further trouble for Bitcoin in the long term.

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, also experienced a decline, dropping over 5% from $1,727 to $1,631 within the same period. The negative sentiment affected altcoins as well, causing many of the tokens classified as securities in the SEC's lawsuits to stumble by more than 3%.

Cardano has experienced a decline of 3.4% in the past 24 hours, whereas Polygon and Solana have seen decreases of 3.3% and 2.8% respectively.

According to Cointelegraph analyst Marcel Pechman, the existing options data for Bitcoin indicates a potential decline in its value. This is especially relevant when considering the regulatory hostility towards the cryptocurrency industry within the United States and the expected increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve in the upcoming months.