Bitcoin is holding near $76,300, barely reacting to the Federal Reserve’s latest rate decision even as Wall Street absorbs a sharper jolt.
On Wednesday, the Fed raised its benchmark rate by 25 basis points, taking the target range to 3.75%–4%. All 12 members of the Federal Open Market Committee supported the move, which traders had already priced at a 93% probability, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
The bigger reaction came from traditional markets. The Dow dropped roughly 1.2% while the S&P 500 lost between 0.4% and 0.5%. Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield had climbed above 5% earlier in the week, reaching its highest level since 2007 as oil moved past $100 a barrel amid the conflict between Israel and Iran.
The backdrop matters for Bitcoin. Higher interest rates make cash and Treasurys relatively more appealing than assets such as Bitcoin and gold, which do not generate yield. A more hawkish Fed can also support the dollar, creating another source of pressure for riskier assets.
By Thursday morning, some of that tension had faded. Longer-dated Treasury yields slipped by about two basis points, while equity futures moved higher. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s inflation-focused message appeared to calm bond markets by signaling that policymakers were not steering toward a disorderly jump in yields. Oil also edged back from its highs.
For now, Bitcoin is moving in a market that looks more cautious than euphoric. Total crypto market capitalization stood at $2.63 trillion, while the Crypto Fear and Greed Index was at 50, exactly neutral territory. Just three weeks earlier, the same gauge had been flashing extreme greed.
Bitcoin Stays Calm While Zcash Breaks Away
The most dramatic move came from somewhere else entirely. Zcash surged as much as 23% to around $1,425 after Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang revealed on X that his venture firm owns ZEC and has invested in the Zcash Open Development Lab.
Huang described Zcash as “a private complement to Bitcoin” and argued that its developer fund, which is financed through inflation, should continue receiving support as AI-powered cyber threats and quantum computing develop.
The move builds on an already extraordinary run. Zcash gained 37% in May after Multicoin Capital’s Tushar Jain disclosed a position accumulated since February, describing the token as “the cleanest way” to express a privacy thesis tied to fears of wealth seizure.
Over the past month, ZEC has climbed roughly 160%, compared with an 18.2% gain for Bitcoin. Over the last 365 days, Zcash is up nearly 3,000%, making it the standout performer among the 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization this week.
Elsewhere, the moves were much quieter. BNB traded near $724, up 2%, while Solana rose 3.3% to just above $100. XRP reached $1.29 after gaining 2% on the day, although it remained more than 6% lower for the week following the Senate’s failed cloture vote on the Clarity Act.
That bill would have provided broader legal clarity for crypto activity in the United States, with potentially more significance for altcoins such as Solana and XRP than for Bitcoin, which is already widely treated as distinct from other crypto assets from a regulatory standpoint.
The market also saw about $373 million in liquidations over 24 hours. Short positions made up the larger share as prices moved higher heading into the Fed decision.
The Fed’s median projection places the federal funds rate at 4.1% by the end of 2026, leaving the door open to one additional quarter-point move. The next policy meeting is scheduled for October 27–28.
For Bitcoin, the immediate reaction suggests investors were already prepared for this move. The more revealing part may come from what markets do with the Fed’s next decision—and whether interest rates, Treasury yields and the dollar start pulling harder on crypto valuations again.