The Federal reserve is leaving interest rates in the US at 5.5 percent for now. The central bank announced this in a press statement. As a result, the financial and crypto markets must continue to wait for an interest rate cut. Most market participants (96.9 percent) had already expected this move. Therefore, crypto markets did not initially react much either.

In the night following the announcement, cryptocurrency prices fell slightly. The Bitcoin price dropped 3.32 percent from the previous day and now stands at $64,205. Ethereum stands at $3,170, down 4.4 percent.

The US central bank wants to continue observing the economic situation in the US for the time being before making a major change in interest rate policy. One reason for this is probably US inflation, as consumer prices rose 3.0 percent in June compared to the same month last year. That is 0.3 percentage points less than in May, but the Fed remains cautious and is waiting to cut interest rates.

As a result, the U.S. central bank is keeping interest rates higher than its European counterpart in Frankfurt. The ECB interest rate currently stands at 4.25 percent. A first rate cut for the euro zone took place last month.

Still, the pressure on the Federal Reserve is growing, partly because of the high US national debt. The U.S. government already has to pay more than a trillion dollars in interest alone due to high interest rates.

"The committee believes that the economy is almost at the point where it is appropriate to reduce our measures," Fed boss Jerome Powell said. This gives investors hope for a first rate cut in September. However, he had already indicated at the press conference in late January that he would not cut interest rates until U.S. inflation is under sustainable control.