Bitcoin rebounded higher after the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision on Wednesday for the first time since Monday's surprise pullback, sending the cryptocurrency market and shares of digital asset-focused companies higher, as the Federal Reserve signaled interest rate cuts next year.
While US central bank officials left the federal funds rate at 5.25%-5.5% on Wednesday at the conclusion of the December FOMC meeting, they expected the rate to fall to 4.6% by the end of 2024, suggesting approximately Of the three cuts of about 25 basis points.
A nearly unanimous 17 of 19 Fed officials expect interest rates to be lower by the end of 2024 than they are now.
The dollar fell to its lowest level in four months, making digital assets more attractive to investors, while the benchmark 10-year US bond yield fell to its lowest level since early August.
Markets now expect a roughly 89% probability of a March rate cut by the Fed, according to the Investing Saudi Arabia Fed Rate Tracker.
Meanwhile, bond yields and the US dollar index fell sharply on dovish expectations from the Federal Reserve, supporting a rally in riskier markets and assets including stocks and cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin, the largest digital currency asset, crossed $43,000, up about 5% from less than $41,000 earlier in yesterday's trading, but pared some of its gains.
Cryptocurrency-related stocks also rose. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) ended the trading session up nearly 8%, while MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) rose 5%.
US-listed Bitcoin mining companies, such as Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA), RIOT (NASDAQ:RIOT), and CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK), rose between 8% and 16% on the day.
Bitfinex analysts said on Tuesday: Historically, suspending or lowering interest rates tends to inject optimism among investors, as it means more liquidity and potentially increased investment in various asset classes. This effect is not limited to traditional markets, but extends to new assets such as digital currencies.
Cryptocurrencies at 11:30 pm Saudi time
The combined market value of the crypto market during these moments of today’s trading amounted to approximately $1.55 trillion. The trading volume reached approximately $67.47 billion, according to data available on Investing Saudi Arabia.
Bitcoin rose during the last 24 hours to the levels of $42,942, by 4.4%, while recording weekly losses of 2.2%. Its market value now stands at $839 billion.
While Ethereum, which is the largest digital currency by market value after Bitcoin, rose by about 5.1% during the last 24 hours, to reach $2,283, with weekly gains of 1%, and a market value of about $ 274 billion.
The price of Binance Coin BNB/USD rose by 1.1% to record $251.
While Ripple gained approximately 3.5% of its value, recording $0.63016, while it declined by 3.5% in the last 7 days.
Solana jumped by 10.1% in the last 24 hours to $71.78, and is rising by 12.9% in the last 7 days.
Cardano witnessed a rise to $0.6520, by 17.6%, while it rose in the last 7 days by 47%.
At the same time, Dogecoin rose to the level of $0.096641, by 5%.
Avalanche AVAX/USD jumped 9.7%, recording $38.84, an increase of 45% in the last 7 days.
Polkadot also jumped 9.4% in the last 24 hours, to $7.38.
