U.S. Federal Reserve leaves interest rates unchanged for now<\/p>\n
Digital assets are rebounding with the broader markets following a three-day sell-off in response to the U.S. Federal Reserve leaving interest rates unchanged following strong economic performance in the United States.<\/p>\n
On Dec. 13, Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said<\/a> that rates are \u201clikely at or near\u201d their peak. \u201cInflation keeps coming down, the labor market keeps coming into balance,\u201d Powell said. \u201cIt\u2019s so far so good.\u201d<\/p>\n Documents released alongside the announcement indicated the majority of the central bank\u2019s open market committee, which is tasked with setting interest rates, anticipates three rate reductions for 2024. In November, the labor market grew by 200,000 jobs and the annual inflation rate dropped from 3.2% to 3.1%, while GDP<\/a> is on track to reach pre-pandemic projections.<\/p>\n Investors reacted bullishly, with the Dow Jones index rallying 500 points to new all-time highs above 37,000, while U.S. bonds, gold, and cryptocurrencies also posted gains.<\/p>\n However, Powell said it would be \u201cpremature\u201d to presume the U.S. economy is entirely out of the woods just yet. \u201cInflation is still too high, ongoing progress in bringing it down is not assured, and the path forward is uncertain.\u201d Powell continued. \u201cThe committee is proceeding carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n Bitcoin (BTC) is up 3.5% in 24 hours in response to the news while Ethereum (ETH) gained 2.7%, according to CoinGecko. Cardano was today\u2019s best-performing top 10 cryptocurrency with a 13.6% jump, followed by Avalanche with 5.8%.<\/p>\n Crypto investors may also be celebrating fresh comments from Rostin Behnam, the chair of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), asserting that most digital tokens comprise commodities \u2014 contradicting the hawkish U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).<\/p>\n \u201cUnder existing law, many of the tokens constitute commodities,\u201d the CFTC head told<\/a> CNBC Squawk Box on Dec. 12. Benham continued that lawmakers need to adopt a \u201cnew way of thinking about policy and legislating\u201d when applying \u201cdecades-old law\u201d to the evolving web3 phenomenon.<\/p>\n Benham noted the long-standing battle between the CFTC and the SEC for jurisdiction over digital assets, with the SEC aggressively seeking to regulate digital assets as securities through enforcement actions<\/a>. Benham urged Congress to \u201cstep in and overcome this feeling of not wanting to legitimize the technology.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[Crypto is] here, it hasn\u2019t gone away, and we\u2019re seeing it with the price of some of the bigger coins,\u201d Benham added. \u201cThere is a gap in regulation and I need Congress to step in\u2026 we\u2019ve literally been talking about this for years and we still don\u2019t have a regulated environment.\u201d<\/p>\nCFTC chairman says digital assets are commodities<\/h2>\n