Morning Minute: Crypto Rebounds After The Fed’s First Hike Since 2023

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. And check out our daily news show ‘FOMO HOUR’ covering all of the top stories and market action.

GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors are green after FOMC’s rate hike; BTC at $76.4k
• Alts soar double digits led by ZEC, NEAR, LIT and VVV
• House advances the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill
• Circle’s Arc chain sees $400M+ volume in debut
• Robinhood Chain and Stonk eco leaders rebound along with alts

📈 Crypto Rebounds After The Fed’s First Hike Since 2023

The Fed raised rates 25 basis points on Wednesday to a 3.75% to 4.00% target range, its first hike in more than three years. The vote was unanimous. During Kevin Warsh’s press conference that followed the decision, he noted that the economy is resilient, the labor market is strong, but inflation is too high and has been for too long.

Odds of 2 more rate hikes by end of 2026 jumped to 40% in the aftermath, up from 10% just a week ago. The stock market did sell off in the wake, with the Dow falling 600 points and the 10-year jumping to 5.02%, though stock futures are very green pre-market.

As for crypto, well, it briefly shrugged then rebounded. Bitcoin sat at $75,700 immediately after, and has since ground higher to $76,300. ETH and SOL were both green at $2,430 and $100, respectively. Hyperliquid was up 1% as well at $80.

But alts are the story. The recent alt darlings posted double-digit gains. ZEC jumped 12% to $1,350 and a new high; NEAR rallied +15%, LIT jumped +12%, and VVV continued its rally up +12%.

So where does this leave us? Crypto just absorbed its first rate hike in three years without flinching, which sounds like strength and mostly means the pain was taken in advance. In fact, crypto just took a back-to-back beating with the rate hike and the Clarity Act failing to pass on Tuesday. The crypto market is no longer going down on bad news. And alts are showing real strength and signs of a risk-on bid. It sure seems that there are real signs of the bottom being behind us. Bears are on notice…

🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

• Crypto majors are green and rebounding after FOMC hiked rates 25 bps; BTC even at $76.4k; ETH +1% at $2,440; SOL +3% at $100; HYPE +3% at $79.7; ZEC +12% at $1,360
• Top alt movers include NEAR (+18%), LIT (+14%) and VVV (+12%)
• Oil -3% at $100; Gold -0.4% at $4,370
• Stock futures rise after the rate hike and afternoon selloff; DOW +0.8%, Nasdaq +1.1%
• House Financial Services advanced the American Reserve Modernization Act 28 to 21 on a party-line vote, giving Treasury 180 days to stand up a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and locking deposited Bitcoin for 20 years, with no purchase authority
• The House Ways and Means Committee advanced the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act 38 to 5 less than a day after the Clarity Act died, exempting network fees of $10 or less, extending wash-sale rules to crypto, and setting treatment for stablecoins, lending, mining, and staking
• SEC Chair Atkins and CFTC Chair Selig both said they’ll write rules without Congress, after the Senate blocked the Clarity Act, with Selig saying the CFTC is locked in and ready to ship and Atkins telling investors to stay tuned
• Crypto VC deployed $5.68 billion across 384 deals in Q2, up 31% quarter over quarter, though later-stage rounds took 78% of the dollars and only five new funds closed, the fewest since 2019
• The hackers behind the Revolut breach demanded 6,000 XMR, about $3 million, within 24 hours, threatening to sell data from at least 680 accounts they picked using blockchain analysis
• Bitcoin Core 32 entered final testing ahead of an October release, with faster validation, fee changes, and security fixes
• Just 290 people worldwide hold $100 million or more in crypto, with 23 billionaires and 135,694 millionaires against roughly 742 million total holders, per Henley & Partners’ Crypto Wealth Report 2026

Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

Meme Coin Tracker

• Meme leaders were green; DOGE even, SHIB +3%, PEPE +4%, PENGU +5%, TRUMP +4%, SPX -1%
• Robinhood chain leaders were mostly green and rebounding; Pons +10% to $440M; AI +3% at $282M; Cashcat +29% at $200M; Musebook +220%, Robin +150%, ZZZ +50% and Wallet +44% led top movers
• Solana top movers were led by Paid +200%, Eloncoin (+180%) and Ember (+50%); Stonk eco rallied as Stonk +25% to $180M, ZCAT +36% to $140M, wifout +500x to $4M, jubjub +400% and Knots +70%

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

• NFT leaders were slightly green; Punks even at 29.3 ETH, BAYC +1% at 6.85 ETH, Pudgy +2% at 3.43 ETH
• Rekt Tradooor (+80%) and Stonkbrokers (+16%) led top movers