Fed Hawkish Decision Sparks Sell-Off, Ethereum Surprisingly Outperforms

The Federal Reserve's hawkish decision on June 17 sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency market. The Fed held interest rates steady at 3.50% to 3.75%, but a significant shift in their dot plot projections sparked a sell-off in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Nine of 18 officials now project at least one rate hike before the end of 2026, with six projecting two.

Bitcoin (BTC) dropped to $63,000, while Ethereum (ETH) fell below $1,800. However, a day later, both cryptocurrencies steadied rather than crashed, with ETH even outperforming BTC by rising 5.1% on the week and reaching $1,740.

Ethereum's resilience is attributed to its own demand drivers, including aggressive treasury accumulation by firms like BitMine, returning ETF inflows, and the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade. This decoupling from macro gloom has led some capital to rotate back into Ethereum as the market stabilizes.