Bitcoin Holds Above $40K as Market Adjusts to Higher Rates From Federal Reserve

At the current level, the crypto has gained about 3% for the week.

By Brian Evans

Mar 17, 2022 at 7:15 p.m. UTC

Updated Mar 18, 2022 at 2:12 p.m. UTC

Federal Reserve Bank (Fandrade/Getty images)

Brian Evans

Brian covers bitcoin on the markets team

One day after the U.S. Federal Reserve boosted its benchmark interest rate for the first time in more than three years, bitcoin (BTC) is having a quiet session, currently trading at $40,800.

Traditional markets and cryptocurrencies both sold off in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday’s rate hike announcement by the U.S. central bank, but recovered those losses and more by the end of the day.
Speaking at the post-meeting press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. economy is strong enough to withstand a number of rate hikes this year, and doesn’t see a recession on the horizon.
“I think that the result of this FOMC meeting is bullish for the market in the short-term, as the market gained clarity on the Fed raising rates and there were no big surprises,” said Marcus Sotiriou, analyst at U.K.-based GlobalBlock. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is the Fed's monetary policymaking body.
Motiriou, however, does worry that rate hikes initially may not do a lot to cool inflation, setting up markets for more pain if the Fed feels the need to get more aggressive in its money tightening policy.
Checking other popular cryptocurrencies, ether (ETH) and solana (SOL) are both outperforming bitcoin by a bit today, each up about 2%.

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