On December 25th, according to Cointelegraph, BTSE COO Jeff Mei stated that if the Federal Reserve maintains its interest rates unchanged in the first quarter of 2026, Bitcoin could fall to $70,000 and Ethereum could fall to $2,400. However, the Federal Reserve ended its quantitative tightening (QT) on December 1st and launched its Reserve Management Purchases (RMPs) program, purchasing approximately $40 billion in short-term Treasury bonds monthly, which some analysts consider a form of "hidden quantitative easing (QE)."
If RMPs continue into Q1 2026, they could inject liquidity and support risk asset prices. Jeff Mei predicts Bitcoin could rise to $92,000 to $98,000, while Ethereum could benefit from L2 scaling improvements and increased DeFi appeal, reaching $3,600. Furthermore, over $50 billion in ETF inflows and institutional accumulation will further drive market gains.
