The Federal Reserve raises rates by 25 basis points – Crypto News Today

Today, the US Federal Reserve announced that it is cutting interest rates to between 4.50% and 4.75%, an increase of 0.25% from last month. Rates were still 0% lower than a year ago.

Rate between 4.50% and 4.75%

The Federal Reserve raises interest rates by 25 basis points.

The US central bank announced today at the Federal Open Market Committee that it will raise federal interest rates by just 0.25%, bringing them to a range of 4.50% to 4.75%.

The rate hike was widely priced in by the markets, with analysts pricing the probability of a 25 basis point hike at 98% and the probability of a 50 basis point hike at 2%. Neither the major indices nor the crypto market reacted strongly to the announcement, with BTC rising just 0.07% immediately after the news.

This is the eighth time the Fed has raised interest rates since the start of 2022. The central bank presented its plan to tighten monetary conditions in November 2021 to combat runaway inflation; at the time, interest rates were at 0%. After being criticized for not taking inflation fears seriously, the Fed quickly raised rates on a monthly basis, first by 25 points, then 50 points, then 75 points on several occasions. By doing so, the bank increased the cost of borrowing, which strengthened the value of the dollar.

However, the Fed’s warmongering has been criticized by a number of entities, including the United Nations, which warned in october that the central bank risked causing a global recession by raising rates too quickly. The Fed finally began to temper the aggressiveness of its hikes last month, when it hiked rates by 50 basis points from 75. Today’s decision is another step in that direction.

Disclaimer: At the time of writing this article, the author of this article owned BTC, ETH, and several other crypto assets.