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Bitcoin Steady at $29.3K After Fed Rate Hike and Powell Press Conference
The U.S. central bank as expected lifted its benchmark fed funds rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday afternoon.
Updated Jul 26, 2023, 11:20 p.m. Published Jul 25, 2023, 11:22 p.m.
Bitcoin (BTC) continued to trade higher by 0.3% for the day at just above $29,300 after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its fed funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 5.25%-5.50%. The widely-anticipated move is having little effect on traditional markets as well, with the major U.S. equity indexes continuing to trade modestly lower.
Alongside that quiet action, a number of altcoins are still holding sizable moves higher on Wednesday, led by Origin Protocol's OGN token with a 28% advance. Also on the move is Compound's COMP, ahead 16.8%, Convex Finance's CVX, up 9.7% and Solana's SOL with a 6% gain.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
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Among those cryptos headed lower is Lido DAO's LDO, off 5%. The worst performer per CoinDesk data is AMP's AMP, lower by 13%.
At his post-meeting press conference, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said no decisions about future rate hikes or pauses had been made, and stressed that the central bank will be highly data dependent going forward. He noted, for instance, that the Fed will have two additional employment reports and two additional inflation reports to mull over before its next rate-setting meeting in September.
Powell also said that the Fed staff was no longer anticipating a recession. This is notable as the staff's forecast for the past few months had been for a mild recession. The comments briefly knocked bitcoin lower by about $150, but the price quickly rebounded.
Meme crypto is little-changed today following yesterday's 10% advance amidst speculation of its usage in the revamped Twitter platform.
UPDATE (July 26, 08:50 UTC): Updates section on Dogecoin, prices. Adds quote.
UPDATE (July 26, 17:06 UTC): Updates price action.
UPDATE (July 26, 18:16 UTC): Adds Fed rate decision.
UPDATE (July 26, 19:31 UTC): Adds Powell press conference comments.
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Coinbase Sees Crypto Recovery Ahead as Liquidity Improves and Fed Rate Cut Odds Climb
The crypto exchange also took note of a so-called AI bubble that continues to go strong and a weaker U.S. dollar.
What to know:
- Coinbase Institutional is seeing a potential December recovery in crypto, citing improving liquidity and a shift in macroeconomic conditions that could favor risk assets like bitcoin.
- The firm's optimism is driven by rising odds of Federal Reserve rate cuts, with markets pricing in a 93% chance easing next week, and improving liquidity conditions.
- Several recent institutional developments, including Vanguard's crypto ETF policy reversal and Bank of America's greenlighting of crypto allocations, have contributed to bitcoin's rebound from recent lows.
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