“The president and his team will continue to study that matter,” Kevin Hassett, Trump’s economic adviser, told reporters at the White House when asked if firing the Fed chair was an option and if the Trump has the authority to remove Powell.

This week, Trump posted to his Truth Social account that “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough” after Powell reiterated his intention to keep interest rates on hold due to uncertainty over Trump’s tariff trade war.

Last month, influential Democratic Party senator Elizabeth Warren said Trump could try to fire Powell, ominously warning, “nobody is safe.”

“It would be a huge, huge shock,” Bilal Hafeez, chief executive of investment research company Macro Hive, told The Telegraph newspaper. “Overall, it would almost be like an apocalyptic scenario for the market.”

Trump’s barrage of global trade tariffs have blown up the established order of international trade, fuelling market uncertainty and driving investors out of risk assets such as bitcoin and crypto.

Sign up now for CryptoCodex—A free, daily newsletter for the crypto-curious

The bitcoin price has diverged from gold, which has rocketed to all-time highs as traders flee to the traditional safe haven, though some have predicted bitcoin will ultimately benefit and begin trading as “digital gold.”

“Powell continues to sit on the fence with the ‘we’ll wait and see’ approach because he still believes tariffs will lead to higher inflation,” bitcoin and crypto investor Lark Davis wrote in his Wealth Mastery newsletter.

“Only time will tell but firing Powell risks bringing even more uncertainty to markets. However, intervention of some kind will be needed at some point, whether it’s rate cuts, quantitative easing or Trump softens. Or a mix. It’s a matter of when, not if.”