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

Markets reacted to the Federal Reserve's 25 basis-point increase on Wednesday with a broad rebound across crypto majors and a pronounced rally in altcoins. Bitcoin traded above $76,000 after the decision, while Ether and Solana were also higher. Traders interpreted the muted crypto selloff as an absorption of the hike that had largely been priced in.

Alts led the day's gains: privacy token ZEC rallied about 12% to near $1,350 and hit a new high, while NEAR, LIT and VVV posted double-digit advances. The strength in smaller tokens contrasted with simultaneous net outflows from spot crypto ETFs, where Bitcoin-focused products saw roughly $295 million leave and Ether ETFs recorded about $224 million in outflows on Wednesday.

On policy and regulation, the House Financial Services Committee advanced the American Reserve Modernization Act on a party-line 28–21 vote, a measure that would direct Treasury to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve with deposits locked for 20 years. Separately, the House Ways and Means Committee moved forward the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, addressing items such as network fee exemptions and tax treatments for staking, lending and mining.

Market infrastructure and on-chain activity also made headlines: Circle's Arc chain cleared more than $400 million in volume on its first live day, and Hyperliquid led daily on-chain protocol revenue with $2.21 million. Crypto venture investment remained active, with $5.68 billion deployed across 384 deals in Q2, though later-stage rounds absorbed most dollars and few new funds closed. Regulators signaled they will pursue rulemaking without Congress after the Senate stalled a separate bill, with both SEC and CFTC leaders indicating plans to act.

Other market context included a post-decision selloff in equities that later recovered in futures, a jump in the 10-year Treasury yield to about 5.02%, and commodity moves such as oil down roughly 3%. The combination of central-bank action, congressional movement on crypto policy, and robust on-chain volumes together shaped the trading day's narrative for crypto and broader markets.