Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, dropped 0.48% on Thursday, Hong Kong time, after the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee said it would raise interest rates by 25 basis points, as widely expected. The latest rate bump brings the target range to 5%-5.25%, the highest since September 2007.
See related story: Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin rise, BNB stumbles; US equity futures flat ahead of Fed interest rate decision
Fast facts
- Bitcoin traded at US$28,452 as of 3:00 a.m. in Hong Kong, while most other top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization traded mixed, according to CoinMarketCap data.
- Major stock indexes dropped following the announcement. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Wednesday down 0.8%, the S&P 500 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite 0.5%.
- Fed Chair Jerome Powell said he remains committed to bringing inflation back down to around 2%. Inflation has been moderating in recent months, but pressures “continue to run high,” Powell added. The U.S. Bureau of Statistics said March inflation was at 5%.
- Powell said the Fed had not decided on whether it will stop its rate-hiking cycle. He added that decisions will be made on a meeting-by-meeting basis and that the central bank is “prepared to do more if greater monetary policy is warranted.”
- This past weekend saw the latest development in bank failures. First Republic Bank, the 12th-largest bank by assets in the U.S., required a joint rescue by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and JPMorgan.
See related story: Crypto market dips ahead of US Fed meeting