The Relationship Between Bitcoin, Ethereum and Federal Interest Rates на сайте Nedvio

The Federal Reserve’s monetary policies and interest rate decisions significantly influence financial markets. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have exhibited varying degrees of correlation to interest rates set by the Fed.

Background on Federal Interest Rates

The Fed funds rate is the target interest rate set by the Federal Reserve that governs lending between banks. Raising rates aims to slow economic growth and control inflation, while lowering rates seeks to stimulate growth.

Other key rates like the discount rate and yields on Treasury securities move relative to the Fed funds rate. These changing rates impact asset valuations, risk appetite, and currencies.

Correlation of Bitcoin to Interest Rates

In theory, Bitcoin is positioned to act as an inflation hedge due to its fixed supply. However, its price history shows little consistent correlation to interest rates.

During 2018-2019, Bitcoin prices fell over 70% alongside steady Fed rate hikes. However, in 2020-2021, Bitcoin rallied to new highs even as rates remained near zero. This underscores Bitcoin’s larger pricing dependence on speculative crypto market cycles.

When rates do rise significantly, Bitcoin tends to underperform relative to equities due to its higher risk profile. But sudden rate cuts designed to spur growth can also coincide with bullish crypto price moves.

Relationship of Ethereum to Rates

Ether, as the currency of Ethereum’s broader decentralized finance and DApp ecosystem, has exhibited slightly higher sensitivity to rate changes.

During periods of low interest rates, Ether and crypto assets built on Ethereum tend to benefit and rally strongly due to abundant market liquidity. Easy borrowing conditions propel speculative investments.

When rates rise, the higher relative risk of crypto is exposed and capital flows back to safer haven assets. Tighter monetary policy applies downward valuation pressure on Ethereum more directly than Bitcoin.

Other Factors Impacting Correlation

While interest rates exert some influence, Bitcoin and Ethereum prices are also tied to numerous other complex factors like:

• Other macroeconomic conditions.
• Regulatory and political developments.
• News and events impacting investor psychology.
• Fundamental health of the network and ecosystem.
• Changing investor demographics and risk appetites.

These myriad forces make tight long-term correlation to any single variable like interest rates difficult to sustain. Crypto remains highly sensitive to its own distinct market cycles and narratives.

Conclusion

Interest rates and Fed policies have shown varying degrees of correlation to Bitcoin and Ethereum historically. But crypto prices are ultimately driven by a unique set of variables related to their usage, adoption, and perception as an emerging alternative asset class. Rates are just one of many macroeconomic signals that the crypto market absorbs and tries to discern implications from.