Fed resumes raising rates, crypto and equities stay flat

The move comes after the central bank paused interest rates in June, marking the first hold in 15 months

article-image

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell | Brookings Institute/"Jerome Powell" (CC license)

share

The Federal Reserve opted to resume increasing interest rates Wednesday after a one-time pause in June. 

Economic activity “has been expanding at a moderate pace,” the central bank wrote in its Federal Open Markets Committee statement, citing job gains and a sustained low unemployment rate. Plus, US banks have proven to be “sound and resilient,” the statement added. 

The move comes after the central bank paused interest rates in June, marking the first hold in 15 months. There had been ten consecutive rate increase rounds prior to last month, a strategy the Fed hoped will curb the highest inflation the country has seen in more than four decades, but markets have fretted over whether a soft landing is achievable.

“In determining the extent of additional policy firming that may be appropriate to return inflation to 2 percent over time, the Committee will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments,” committee members wrote in the statement. 

The committee also noted that the Fed will continue to lower its holdings of Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities. 

Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) rallied slightly on the news, with both raking in around a 0.3% gain. Equities were able to slightly pare back losses from earlier in the trading session. 

The S&P 500 lost as much as 0.2% Wednesday morning before the Fed’s announcement. In the moments after the rate decision was revealed the index was able to inch back close to its intraday high. 

The Nasdaq Composite similarly rebounded slightly, but still remains about 0.2% lower at time of publication.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research

article-image

Firedancer begins delegating stake to Solana validators

article-image

A vote ending Monday could introduce a new layer of security for Ethereum’s largest liquid staking protocol

article-image

Framework’s Michael Anderson explains what tokens need in order to be successful

article-image

Conferences are pop-up innovation clusters—and filters for the riff-raff

article-image

Tariff front-running may have caused an artificial bounce in economic data earlier this year

article-image

Waka Flocka Flame-linked BaseDrop is raising some eyebrows