Bitcoin traded higher and hovered just under the psychologically important $40,000 mark on Wednesday evening as the global cryptocurrency market cap shot up 5.5% to $1.8 trillion.
Price Performance Of Major Coins
Coin
24-hour
7-day
Price
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC)
4.8%
1.1%
$39,611.43
Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH)
5.6%
1.9%
$2,940.83
Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE)
4.2%
-4.5%
$0.135
Top 24-Hour Gainers (Data via CoinMarketCap)
Cryptocurrency
24-Hour % Change (+/-)
Price
Zilliqa (ZIL)
+39.1%
$0.095
Waves (WAVES)
+30.1%
$15.64
Tron (TRX)
+20.1%
$0.088
See Also: Best USDC Interest Rates
Why It Matters: The Federal Reserve voted unanimously to increase target fund rates by 0.5% on Wednesday. This is the first such rate hike since the turn of the millennium. The U.S. central bank will also start reducing the size of its balance sheet beginning June 1.
“Inflation remains elevated, reflecting supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic, higher energy prices, and broader price pressures,” said the Federal Reserve in a statement.
Investor sentiment was boosted during the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s news conference where he made it known that the bank was “not actively considering” a 75-basis point increase, according to a CNBC report.
The dollar fell to a …
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