The Fed slows down QT

Plus: XRP – free at last?

GM. Crypto’s a giant orchard, and today the fruit is falling fast – don’t worry, tho’, we’ve caught the ripest ones for you.

⚖️ SEC drops its appeal against Ripple.

🍋 News drops: Solana Labs CEO is embarrassed, Australian officials went after fake Binance support + more

🍍 Market flavor today

Not too bad, innit? We’ve climbed out of Fear to Neutral, and prices are looking a lot greener.

Why? Well, the FOMC meeting and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference happened yesterday – and both of ’em played out pretty much as expected.

As predicted, interest rates stayed unchanged for the second time in a row – good-ish news, no surprises there.

What really matters is this: the Fed released its updated dot plot – aka their way of showing where they think interest rates are headed.

Back in December, only one official thought there’d be no rate cuts in 2025. Now, tho’, that number has jumped to four.

That said, the median forecast still suggests two rate cuts this year, meaning there’s still an expectation that interest rates will come down – maybe just not as quickly as some had hoped.

Why the hesitation? The Fed’s economic outlook got a little less optimistic:

GDP growth expectations were cut from 2.1% to 1.7% – a sign the economy might slow down more than they thought;
Unemployment is now projected to rise from 4.3% to 4.4%;
Inflation forecasts were revised higher – the Fed now sees PCE inflation hitting 2.7% instead of 2.5% and Core PCE inflation reaching 2.8%.

TL;DR: the Fed sees a weaker economy and inflation that’s still a bit too high. Plus, tariffs have pushed inflation expectations higher and made everything more unpredictable.

For this reason, Powell made it clear that the Fed isn’t in a hurry to cut rates.

That said, he did reassure markets that if the labor market weakens, the Fed can step in and ease policy.

Now, here’s the part that’s extra important for risk assets like crypto:

The Fed decided to slow down quantitative tightening (QT) starting in April – which is basically their way of pulling money out of the system to keep inflation in check.

And less QT = more liquidity in the system = more money that could flow into crypto.

So, while the Fed is still being cautious, the market seems to be reading between the lines – the overall direction is still pointing toward looser conditions down the line.

Let’s be patient 🚀

🥝 Memecoin harvest

These memecoins are up so bad, your grandma’s knitting club might be talking about them 👵

Data as of 08:40 AM EST.

Check out these memecoins and plenty more here.

Just in case you live next door to someone like Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse or CLO Stuart Alderoty (or literally anyone who cares about Ripple) – don’t be surprised if they’re gonna be blasting music until 5 AM tonight.

And maybe don’t call the cops; let them have this one. It’s a huge day for them.

Here’s the short and sweet version of what’s been goin’ on:

Back in 2020, the SEC sued Ripple for allegedly selling unregistered securities through XRP;
In 2023, a court ruled that XRP traded on public exchanges wasn’t a security, but early sales to institutional investors might’ve been;
Ripple was ready to settle with a $125M fine and move on with life;
The SEC wasn’t having it – they filed an appeal;
Ripple hit back with a cross-appeal.

So, you see – 5 years of pure legal insanity.

And it is officially over – the SEC dropped their appeal, which pretty much confirms XRP as a digital commodity, not a security.

This is one of the biggest reversals by the SEC since its leadership changed.

Under ex-chair Gary Gensler, they launched over 100 enforcement actions against crypto companies – but now that they’re backing off, it could mean a chiller regulatory approach ahead.

But that’s not all: Ripple’s cross-appeal is still on the table.

And the SEC probably doesn’t want that to go forward – it could shrink their authority and set a precedent for other cases.

Translation: Ripple is in a powerful negotiating position.

‘Cause, you know, Ripple was initially willing to pay $125M to put the case behind them. But the SEC is changing its stance on crypto, so why would Ripple pay a fine based on a ruling that’s losing relevance?

For that reason, they might try to either:

We’ll see what they decide. Either way, today’s win is a win 💪

🍋 News drops

😬 Solana Labs’ CEO, Anatoly Yakovenko, said Solana’s latest ad was embarrassing. The ad took a detour into political messaging – and Yakovenko made it clear they won’t be going down that road again.

⚠️ Australian officials stopped scammers pretending to be Binance support. Victims were tricked into calling a fake support line and sending crypto to a false “trust wallet.”

🚀 Coinbase launched Verified Pools. This new feature creates liquidity pools only verified users can join.

⚖️ Gotbit’s founder, Aleksei Andriunin, took a plea deal after the feds caught him manipulating crypto markets. His company allegedly ran wash trades, which made them tens of millions between 2018 and 2024.