Virtual Bitcoin coin. /Courtesy of News1

The Federal Reserve (Fed) has resulted in a generally stable trend in the prices of major cryptocurrencies.

As of 8:11 a.m. on the 19th, Bitcoin is reported at $104,954, an increase of 0.48% from 24 hours ago, according to CoinMarketCap, a cryptocurrency tracking website. Ethereum, the second-largest by market capitalization, has risen by 0.9% to $2,525, while Ripple (XRP), the fourth-largest, is up 1.01% to $2.17. During the same period, Solana has recorded a decrease of 0.01% to $147.

On the 18th (local time), the Federal Reserve announced plans to cut the benchmark interest rate twice this year. The Fed stated that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided to maintain the benchmark interest rate at the existing 4.25% to 4.50%. This marks the fourth consecutive freeze following those in January, March, and May.

The Fed reduced the benchmark interest rate by a total of 1 percentage point in September, November, and December of last year. However, this year, the increasing uncertainty due to the tariff policy of the Trump administration and the impacts of the war in the Middle East led to expectations of a freeze on the benchmark interest rate.