Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were pummeled on Thursday over mounting fears the Federal Reserve would hold interest rates steady at a meeting next month.
Bitcoin fell 4%, to $98,200 — its lowest value since May. Ethereum fell 8% to $3,167, its lowest value since July.
The crypto crash is part of a larger rout that saw investors dump stocks across the board. The Nasdaq composite fell 2.3%.
The fall was driven, in part, by concern over the Fed’s next move. Its rate cutting campaign has helped boost stock markets this year, and rate cuts are generally a boon to risk-on assets, such as crypto.
But traders no longer expect the Fed to cut interest rates at its December 10 meeting.
Traders are now pricing in a 51% chance the Fed cuts rates in December, according to CME’s FedWatch tool. That’s down from 62% on Wednesday and 69% a week ago.
The government won’t release October’s unemployment rate, Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, told Fox News on Thursday.
“The household survey wasn’t conducted in October, so we’re going to get half the employment report,” he said.
“We’ll get the jobs part, but we won’t get the unemployment rate, and that’ll just be for one month.”
The federal reserve relies on that data to inform its interest rate decisions. And several Fed presidents sounded a note of caution on Thursday when it comes to lowering interest rates, Bloomberg reported.
Bitcoin and Ethereum weren’t the only major cryptocurrencies that were hammered on Thursday.
XRP and Solana fell about 8%. BNB fell more than 5%.
Aleks Gilbert is DL News’ New York-based DeFi correspondent. You can reach him at [email protected].
