Crypto rallies through the Fed's first rate increase since 2023
- The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis in its first increase since July 2023, and projected a median rate of 4.1% at the end of both 2026 and 2027, implying only one more move in the period.
- Bitcoin trades at $76,621, up 0.88% over 24 hours, with 94 of the 100 CoinDesk 100 constituents higher and the small-cap CoinDesk 80 up 4.7% against 1.2% for the CoinDesk 5.
- Zcash climbed 23% to a record near $1,369 after Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang disclosed the firm owns ZEC, with futures open interest up 37.84% and funding negative.
Bitcoin
The Federal Open Market Committee voted to lift the target rate by 25 basis points to 3.75%-4%. Chair Kevin Warsh told reporters that inflation had been "too high … for too long" and that recent months’ readings did not suggest underlying trends had meaningfully improved.
What reassured traders was the committee's “dot plot” forecast, with a median policy rate of 4.1% at the end of both 2026 and 2027, implying just one further 25 basis-point move and no sustained tightening cycle.
Risk assets rallied, with the Dollar Index losing 0.17% while Nasdaq 100 index futures gained 1.04%, S&P 500 futures 0.81%, gold 1.02% and silver 1.52%. The two-year Treasury yield slipped 2 basis points to 4.71% after touching the highest level since 2024 in the previous session.