Fed Hikes to 3.75%-4%; Bitcoin Flat, Zcash Surges 23% — SkimNews
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- The Federal Reserve lifted its benchmark rate 25 basis points to 3.75%-4% on a unanimous 12-0 vote Wednesday, its first hike since July 2023, with traders having priced in a 93% probability of the move per CME's FedWatch tool.
- Bitcoin briefly touched $76,499 after the announcement before settling near $76,300, roughly flat on the day, while the broader crypto market held above $2.6 trillion at $2.63 trillion.
- Zcash surged as much as 23% toward $1,425 — a multi-year high — after Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang disclosed his firm's ZEC stake and called the token "a private complement to Bitcoin"; ZEC is up roughly 160% over the past month and nearly 3,000% in the last 365 days.
- Wall Street reacted more sharply than crypto, with the Dow sinking about 1.2% and the S&P 500 sliding 0.4-0.5% on Wednesday, while the 10-year Treasury yield had topped 5% earlier in the week — its highest since 2007 — as oil pushed above $100 a barrel amid the Israel-Iran conflict.
- The crypto Fear and Greed Index sat at 50 — exactly neutral — marking a significant drop from the "extreme greed" readings just three weeks ago, even as roughly $373 million in crypto liquidations hit over 24 hours with short positions accounting for the larger share.
- XRP lagged the majors at $1.29, up 2% on the day but still down more than 6% for the week after the crypto industry's Clarity Act failed its Senate cloture vote, a bill that would have offered more meaningful regulatory clarity for altcoins like Solana and XRP than for Bitcoin.
- The Fed's median projection puts the federal funds rate at 4.1% by the end of 2026, leaving room for one more quarter-point move; its next meeting is scheduled for October 27-28.
Why it matters: Crypto's muted reaction despite a hawkish Fed hike and a Dow drop of 1.2% suggests traders had already digested the 93%-probable move, but the Fed's own median projection of 4.1% by end-2026 signals one more quarter-point increase could come at the October 27-28 meeting — a potential headwind for risk assets if it catches markets less prepared than this round did.
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