Bitcoin reached new high last night

Last night, the U.S. central bank Fed cut interest rates as expected. This gave the cryptocurrency Bitcoin another boost.

The U.S. central bank Fed cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage point on Thursday, Nov. 7, bringing them to between 4.5 percent and 4.75 percent. This gave Bitcoin (BTC) a new record high.

Around 9:20 p.m. time, Bitcoin reached a price of $76,872, breaking the previous record. On a daily basis, BTC showed growth of 1.8 percent.

With the rate cut, the Fed continues its policy of monetary easing, a policy motivated in part by the record-high national debt of nearly $36 trillion. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, however, did not comment on the political changes in the U.S., saying he would not respond to a request for resignation by newly elected President Donald Trump. "There is no legal basis for that," Powell stressed at the FOMC press conference.

Ethereum (ETH) also benefited from the news, gaining 3.2 percent over the past 24 hours. The second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization now trades around $2,919 and is nearing the psychologically important $3,000 mark.

Gold prices rose briefly, but then turned southward. The precious metal is currently down 0.5 percent on the daily chart, at $2,691 per troy ounce.