Fed’s hawkish rate hold keeps pressure on Bitcoin: Analysts

Bitcoin could face further headwinds after the US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady while signaling continued concern about inflation, according to market analysts. 

The Fed voted 10-2 Wednesday to maintain its benchmark interest rate at 3.75% to 4%, with Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack favoring a quarter-point increase. 

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh acknowledged that inflation remained above the central bank’s 2% target. 

“Americans… are still dealing with inflation that has been running above the Committee’s objective for close to 6 years. It’s our responsibility to get inflation down,” he said.

Iggy Ioppe, chief investment officer at tokenization platform Theo, said the decision itself was widely expected, but investors had not fully anticipated the Fed’s hawkish messaging. 

“Markets had the hold priced, but not the hawkish tone,” he said in comments sent to Cointelegraph.

There are expectations that the Fed will raise rates in its Dec. 8-9 meeting, and again next year.

CME FedWatch data showed traders assigning a 78.4% probability to a quarter-point increase by December and a 67.3% probability of at least a quarter-point increase by March, as of Wednesday. 

Warsh declined to say whether the Fed would raise rates at the end of the year.