Fed Slashes Rates by 50bps – Are We About to See a 2017-Style Crypto Boom? 

After months of tight fiscal policy, US central bank the Federal Reserve (the Fed) has slashed interest rates by 50 basis points (0.5%) in a sign of loosening purse strings that could potentially catalyze a new crypto gold rush.

In early 2022, the Federal Reserve began incrementally raising the cost of borrowing in order to stem the effects of rampant inflation.

Rates went up 11 times, until by July last year, the cost of borrowing in the US hit a two-decade high.

The Impact of Monetary Policy on Crypto Markets

All this happened in the wake of the FTX exchange catastrophe in November 2021.

The FTX saga was a historic multi-billion dollar bankruptcy caused by the misappropriation of customer funds, the contagion for which spread to dozens of other companies, bankrupting them and ushering in an industry recession known as “crypto winter.”

Meanwhile, the rising cost of borrowing economically turned people away from crypto. In basic economic terms, if borrowing costs are high, fewer investors will venture into more speculative investments like crypto or stocks.

So, yesterday’s rate cut announcement by the Federal Reserve has positively effected on crypto. In the last 24 hours, the market grew 3.3% to capitalize a staggering $2.15 trillion.

Original cryptocurrency and trillion-cap trendsetter Bitcoin ($BTC) leads the charge today. It added 4.8% in the last 24 hours and 7.3% in the last week to trade at $62,440 as of this writing.

Its number one competitor, Ethereum ($ETH) managed to cover more ground overnight. Ethereum grew 6.2% in 24 hours but only 3.4% since last Thursday to trade at $2,431.

Of the ten biggest cryptocurrencies, Solana ($SOL) posted the greatest intraday gains.

Solana blew up 8.2% to $139. Meanwhile, Ripple’s payments-focused XRP ($XRP) grew the most over the week. In the last seven days, XRP added 8.3% and currently trades at $0.5832.

Does Federal Reserve Rates Cuts Mean Alt-Season Is Back?

Now that the Federal Reserve is cutting rates, investors will likely be shifting into more risk-on positions for better rewards.

For those who don’t want relatively “safe money” investments like Bitcoin and Ethereum, the world of presales offers the opportunity to buy into crypto projects at their very launch.

Crypto’s $44 billion meme coin sector, which grew 6.4% in the last 24 hours, is one sector that is brimming with promise.

While meme coins may have started as a parody, they are rapidly finding longevity by offering new value and utility to holders.

One new project, called Memebet, has launched the first online casino where players use meme coins.

The presale launched this week and the project’s native $MEMEBET token received over $200,000 in investments in just two days.

With online gambling primed to explode from a $100 billion industry in 2024 to $130 billion within the next five years, there’s little that the Federal Reserve’s policies could do to impede the growth of platforms like Memebet.

$MEMEBET tokens unlock a range of benefits for players, including airdrop rewards, special VIP degen bonuses, and access to the upcoming Memebet Casino Lootboxes, featuring real-world prizes and casino bonuses.

The project has just launched a 400 million $MEMEBET airdrop.

To join it, simply buy some tokens, wait for the launch of the casino (before the end of the presale), and begin gaming and betting to secure rewards.

Stay updated on the latest Memebet news and developments on X and Telegram.

Visit Memebet Casino

The post Fed Slashes Rates by 50bps – Are We About to See a 2017-Style Crypto Boom? appeared first on Cryptonews.