Bitcoin traded near $80,000 on Thursday morning, down about 1% over 24 hours, after the Federal Reserve left rates unchanged but showed a split over whether to raise them.
The Fed held its federal funds target range at 3.75% to 4.00% on Wednesday. The vote was 10–2. According to the Fed’s statement, Governor Lisa D. Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth M. Hammack dissented. Both wanted a quarter-point increase at this meeting.
The statement said economic activity “is expanding at a strong pace” and that inflation “remains elevated.” It did not commit to a next move. “The accumulation of more information will help the Committee determine the policy stance appropriate,” it said.
Chair Kevin Warsh echoed that at his press conference. “The information we receive over the coming period will help us determine where we want policy to be,” he said, according to the Fed’s preliminary transcript.
What markets are pricing. Futures still point to a December hike. Investing.com, citing CME FedWatch, put the chance of a quarter-point increase at 79.8% on Thursday, up from 73.4% a week earlier. These readings move through the day and are not forecasts. The next meeting is Dec. 8–9, per the Fed’s calendar.
The 10-year Treasury yield was about 5.01% early Thursday, CoinDesk reported, after briefly pushing above 5% following the meeting.
Crypto reaction. CoinGecko showed BTC at $80,049 at 8:13 a.m. ET, down 1.1% over 24 hours, and ether at $2,321, down 1.1%. CoinDesk said bitcoin dipped to about $79,600 overnight. It tied the move partly to a slide in tech stocks after Alphabet and Samsung earnings, with Nasdaq-100 futures down about 1.1%.
Fund flows were steadier. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs took in a net $137.3 million on Wednesday, the third straight day of inflows, according to Farside Investors. Almost all of it went to BlackRock’s IBIT. Spot ether ETFs saw net outflows of $21.4 million.
What’s next. The Commerce Department’s September PCE report, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, is due Thursday. The October jobs report follows Nov. 6, then October consumer prices on Nov. 10, Decrypt reported. With policy now tied to incoming data, those releases may matter more for crypto than anything said on Wednesday.
Sources: Federal Reserve, Federal Reserve press conference transcript, CoinDesk, Investing.com, Farside Investors, CoinGecko, Decrypt.