Cryptocurrencies turn downward after Fed meeting; Bitcoin loses $18,000

There´s been a downward turn for cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin (BTC) falls about 0.5% in the last 24 hours and abandons the $18,000 level once again, while Ethereum (ETH) also fails to keep pace and drops about 2.5% to return to below $1,300.

The 'rally' that spurred the good inflation data for November in the US was completely stopped by the Federal Reserve (Fed), which yesterday, on Wednesday, announced at its last meeting of 2022 a 50 basis point hike for benchmark interest rates, which are in the range of 4.25%-4.5%. Money has never been priced so high since 2007.

U.S. central bank chairman, Jerome Powell, stressed that what the market should be paying attention to is not what hikes the Fed makes, but "what the final level" of interest rates will be. "Having moved so fast, we think the appropriate thing to do now is to move at a slower pace," Powell explained, as officials had hoped to have made "faster progress with inflation than they had."

"We have a long way to go to price stability. We need more evidence to say that inflation is under control," Powell added.

Meanwhile, the developments around Binance and the massive withdrawals that the world's leading 'crypto' exchange experienced in recent days continue to cause concern. According to its CEO and founder, Changpeng Zhao, money is returning to the exchange, but investors are still on alert, especially because of the possible developments of the investigation for alleged money laundering that the United States is carrying out.

FTX´s case continues to make headlines. On Wednesday, in addition to Sam Bankman-Fried being denied bail in the Bahamas, the new CEO in charge of liquidating what was once the third largest exchange in the world, John J. Ray, appeared before the House of Representatives to point out that the collapse of the company was a case of "old-fashioned fraud". A former company executive also reportedly alerted regulators to the irregularities the company was committing in the days leading up to its bankruptcy filing.

Meanwhile, US Senators Elizabeth Warren (Democrat from Massachusetts) and Roger Marshall (Republican from Kansas) have introduced a bill to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorists and countries through cryptocurrencies. The Anti-Digital Asset Laundering Act would apply know-your-customer (KYC) rules to participants in the digital asset industry such as wallet providers and mining companies, in addition to prohibiting financial institutions from transacting with digital asset mixers, tools designed to conceal the origin of funds.

IEdward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, stated that it is unlikely that the current Congress will pass the legislation, but noted that "the law would address some national security concerns, as it requires cryptocurrencies to play by the same rules that apply to banks and traditional companies."

In other 'altcoins' market news, losses up to 2% are being seen in major currencies such as Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC) and Polkadot (DOT), while Litecoin (LTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE) fall 4% and 3%, respectively. Solanna (SOL), meanwhile, rises more than 1% and has surpassed the $14 threshold.