The U.S. central bank, as widely expected, cut the federal funds rate by 0.25% Wednesday, amid recent signs that the economy was faltering and needed a boost — and under relentless pressure from President Donald Trump.
Bitcoin and other major digital assets traded largely flat in the immediate aftermath. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was recently changing hands just above $116,000, up 0.2% over the past hour hours, according to crypto markets data provider CoinGecko. BTC rallied in recent days with investors possibly pricing in the anticipated decision.
Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, was trading at $4,501, flat over the same period.
The Fed slashed the interest rate to a range between 4% and 4.25% after a downward revision in a Department of Labor report showing that the U.S had created 911,000 fewer jobs than initially reported for a year-long period ending in March, and other concerning economic signs. “Uncertainty about the economic outlook remains elevated,” the Fed noted in a statement.
Those concerns outweighed the threat of inflation, which has risen to 2.9% on an annual basis, stubbornly above the bank’s longstanding 2% goal. Newly sworn-in governor Stephen Miran, a White House appointee, dissented from the decision, voting for a .50% rate cut.
The Fed has a dual mission to keep inflation low and ensure full employment.
In Telegram message to Decrypt, Noelle Acheson, the author of the Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter, wrote that the big deal wasn’t the expected rate cut but updated economic forecasts from Fed officials, showing that central bankers are “getting more nervous about the employment outlook.”
The big deal today was not the rate cut (widely expected), it was the updated economic projections from Fed officials – these showed that the FOMC is getting more nervous about the employment outlook, with the average expectation of 2025 cuts now pointing to two more before year end.”
Acheson added that the one dissent was notable and that Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller, who dissented from the Fed’s August decision to hold rates in place “thought 25bp was enough.”
For Bitcoin Traders, Is a Fed Rate Cut Already Priced In?
Central bankers had kept rates unmoved over five meetings this year over inflation concerns, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell vowing after these decisions to remain data-driven in focus. The bank dropped rates a percentage point in three late 2024 rate cuts as prices slackened, and raised expectations for additional cuts this year.
