Strong Jobs Report Pushes Bitcoin Below $80K as Fed Rate Cut Odds Split

The US economy added 162,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in August, nearly triple the 56,000 consensus estimate, sending Bitcoin tumbling from $81,300 to local lows of $78,600 before recovering to around $79,500. The unexpectedly robust labor market data, released Friday, reignited debate over the Federal Reserve's next move ahead of the September 15–16 FOMC meeting. Bitcoin's slide reflected traders repricing the odds of a rate reduction this month, with the strong print undercutting expectations of monetary easing. Polymarket odds for a Fed pause swung to roughly 50/50 after the report, down from 60% in favor of a pause just a day earlier following remarks from Fed Governor Christopher Waller, who said he would favor holding rates steady pending upcoming inflation data.

The labor beat drew a sharp response from US President Donald Trump, who used a Truth Social post to pressure the central bank under its new leadership. "The Fed Board, with its great new leader, must get smart - BE PATRIOTS for a change," Trump wrote, adding that "High interest rates put the U.S.A. at a very unfair disadvantage, and I won't allow that to happen!" Trump's intervention marked his first public criticism of Chair Kevin Warsh, whom he has so far spared compared to his repeated attacks on predecessor Jerome Powell. The lack of forward guidance from Warsh, combined with potential dissenters within the committee, has left markets unusually uncertain about the Fed's trajectory.

Separately, a rival Bitcoin fork using the Blake2b algorithm recorded its first trading activity, with coins changing hands at $350 on exchange Neoxa. The new chain emerged after the BIP-110 soft fork activated on August 7, briefly splitting the Bitcoin network into two competing sides. The BIP-110 branch largely stalled because miners did not devote sufficient hash power to extend that chain, a development supporters viewed as evidence of resistance to the user-activated soft fork. The first liquidity in the Blake2b-based fork signals tentative market interest, though trading volumes remain thin relative to BTC's mainstream markets.