The United States (US) Central Bank, known as the Federal Reserve (The Fed), recently announced its decision to hold interest rates steady in its third meeting. This decision signaled the end of an aggressive interest rate hike campaign, with predictions of a rate cut next year.
Fed officials unanimously decided to maintain the target range for the benchmark interest rate of 5.25% to 5.5%, the highest level since 2001. They did not project further rate increases, marking the first change in their projections since March 2021.

When a country's central bank decides to lower interest rates, it means that the cost of borrowing money becomes cheaper. Why is this important?
* Economic Stimulus: The primary purpose of lowering interest rates is to stimulate economic activity. With lower borrowing costs, companies are more likely to invest and consumers have an easier time getting credit to buy a home or big-ticket items.
* Increase Consumption: When interest rates fall, people's purchasing power generally increases. This is because loan installments become lighter, so people have more money to spend.

Bitcoin price continues to disappoint. Bitcoin is recorded to have weakened by 8.65% throughout August 2024 at the level of 58,978.6 to August 31, 2024. The sentiment of optimism about the United States (US) interest rate cut which will soon occur in September 2024, has encouraged investors to flee from crypto assets to equity assets such as stocks.

Negative sentiment on the crypto market came from external sources, especially after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged two brothers who allegedly ran a US$60 million crypto Ponzi scheme with a non-existent crypto trading bot feature.