The Federal Reserve held its ground on interest rates this week, but the language coming out of the building was anything but neutral. New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh used his first FOMC meeting to deliver a clear message: inflation is still too high, and the central bank isn’t going to blink.
Bitcoin apparently liked what it heard. BTC surged past $60,000 following Warsh’s remarks.
What the Fed actually did
The FOMC voted unanimously, 12–0, to keep the federal funds rate target range at 3.5%–3.75% at its June 17 meeting. The Committee raised its expected end-2026 federal funds rate to 3.8%, up from the 3.4% projection it published in March. The PCE inflation forecast for end-2026 was also bumped up to 3.6%. For context, the Fed’s target is 2%.
May’s Consumer Price Index came in at 4.2% year-over-year, the highest reading in three years. Some of that heat traces back to energy supply disruptions stemming from the Middle East, but Warsh made it clear the source of the inflation matters less than the fact that it exists.
