Bitcoin rose above US$24,000 for the first time since mid-August in Thursday morning trading in Asia before sliding back slightly. It gained along with Ether and most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates by the expected 25 basis points overnight and Fed chair Jerome Powell said the “disinflationary process” has started in the economy. U.S. equities gained on the comments, also encouraged by a better-than-expected growth forecast at social media platform Meta Platforms Inc. Dogecoin was the only token in the top 10 to fall, but it held gains for the week. The crypto market cap rose 3.7% to US$1.09 trillion, with total trading volume up 28.9% to US$60.8 billion. (forkast)