Bitcoin, Ether fall with crypto top 10 as Fed raises rates 75BP

Bitcoin and Ether fell in early morning trading in Asia along with all other top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins, as the US Federal Reserve announced a fourth consecutive 75 basis point interest rate hike on Wednesday. Leading memecoins Dogecoin and Shiba Inu token saw the biggest losses after several days of significant gains following Elon Musk’s purchase of social media platform Twitter Inc.

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Fast facts

• Bitcoin fell 1.5% to US$20,147 in the 24 hours to 8am in Hong Kong, while Ether fell 3.8% to US$1,517, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Solana saw significant losses, falling 4.8% to $30.71, while Cardano fell 4% to $0.38.
• Shiba Inu token fell 7.8% to USD 0.00001176, but still traded up 8.8% in the last seven days, while Dogecoin fell 9.4% to USD 0.12, although it was still up more than 70% the last week. Since buying Twitter, Elon Musk has been tweeting pictures of shiba inu dogs – the dog breed the Doge meme is based on – and has floated the idea of ​​integrating Dogecoin as a payment method on the platform.
• Sitting outside CoinMarketCap’s chart, Litecoin gained 10.1% to change hands at US$60.52 after hitting a six-week high of US$62.12 overnight. This follows payment services company MoneyGram International, Inc. announcing that it is integrating Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin trading into its app.
• US stocks closed down on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5%, the S&P 500 index closed 2.5% lower and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 3.4%.
• The Fed voted unanimously to raise its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points at its November meeting on Wednesday, bringing total interest rates to a 15-year high of 3.75% to 4%. At the press conference announcing the increase, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said it was “very premature to talk about a pause” in rate hikes; However, he appeared to suggest a slowdown from the current pace could be in store in the next few meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee.
• The Fed raised interest rates from near zero in March to today’s 3.25% as inflation hit a near 40-year high of 8.2% in September. The Fed has indicated that it will continue this policy until inflation returns to a target range of 2%.

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