The Federal Reserve decided to raise its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday. But it was the U.S. central bank's statement on a possible path forward that had markets waiting with bated breath.

To cool an overheated economy and tame soaring prices, the Fed has now delivered a steady barrage of 10 consecutive interest rate hikes since March 2022. That brings bringing its federal funds rate to a range of 5% to 5.25%.

An increase of a quarter of a percent was widely expected, according to the CME FedWatch tool, which earlier today showed investors gave the rate hike an 85% chance of happening.

While Bitcoin was slightly down prior to the Fed's move, it clawed back losses and settled around $28,634, according to CoinGecko. Ethereum reversed course as well, pushing higher on the back of the Fed’s statement to $1,886, a gain of 1.2% in the past day, according to CoinGecko.

(By André Beganski)