PANews reported on December 25th that Jeff Mei, Chief Operating Officer of BTSE, 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. Mei predicts Bitcoin could rise to $92,000 to $98,000, while Ethereum could benefit from Layer-2 scaling improvements and increased DeFi appeal, reaching $3,600. Furthermore, over $50 billion in ETF inflows and institutional accumulation will further drive market gains.