We Got a Rate Cut and QT Pause. Why Did Crypto Markets Fall?

Why It Matters

The selloff shows how sensitive risk assets and crypto are to nuanced Fed signaling: promises of future cuts aren’t enough to sustain rallies if timing and liquidity policy remain unclear. For crypto firms, the environment raises fundraising and valuation risks even as token issuance and institutional product launches accelerate.

Summary

Markets sold off after a dovish-but-ambiguous Fed update this week: Jerome Powell signaled that rate cuts are on the roadmap next year and the Fed hinted at pausing quantitative tightening, but his comments left investors uncertain about timing and pace of easing. Stocks erased earlier gains and crypto reversed a midweek rally, leaving Bitcoin and Ether down on the week. The episode coincided with a flurry of crypto headlines — a massively oversubscribed Mega ETH ICO, new token launches (Monad, Poly Market), a CFTC leadership nomination, JP Morgan modeling a hypothetical Coinbase token, plus Solana wins (a staking ETF and a Western Union stablecoin) and Circle’s new layer-1 testnet — underscoring busy funding and product activity despite the pullback. Hosts also promoted the upcoming Bankless Summit and discussed market narratives like a possible ‘‘gold catch-up’’ trade for Bitcoin.

Original Description

📣BANKLESS SUMMIT 2025 | SPONSORED BY M0

https://bankless.cc/devconnet-2025

https://bankless.cc/m0

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Markets got the treat they were waiting for with a Fed rate cut and pause on quantitative tightening, but prices still fell. Why? This week, Ryan and David break down why the markets got spooked, what Powell really said about December cuts, and what it means heading into November. We also cover MegaETH’s oversubscribed ICO, Monad’s airdrop, Polymarket’s confirmed token, and JP Morgan’s $34B Base token estimate. Plus Solana’s new ETF, Western Union’s stablecoin, Circle’s controversial L1 launch, the X402 payment boom, and the latest on Consensys and Securitize IPOs.

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We’re being compensated by Bit Digital (NASDAQ BTBT) for this segment promoting their company and BTBT. The compensation is paid in cash as a one time payment. You can find additional information about Bit Digital and BTBT on their Investor page at https://bit-digital.com/investors

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

5:03 Markets

https://www.tradingview.com/chart/1RYLG2gC/

https://www.tradingview.com/chart/1RYLG2gC/

https://x.com/fundstrat/status/198307855327420049

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1983595486259950049

https://polymarket.com/event/fed-decision-in-december?tid=1761832318180

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1983613170691535094

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1983606477479899214

https://x.com/TKL_Adam/status/1983560866436927875

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1983855569996861631

https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/10/28/solana-etfs-could-draw-over-usd3b-if-bitcoin-ether-etf-trends-repeat

https://x.com/ETHZilla_ETHZ/status/1982901255782445420

https://www.strategicethreserve.xyz/

30:32 3 of the most exciting tokens this year & new valuations! It’s token launch season!

https://x.com/megaeth/status/1983188518756339906

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/1982831157491184073

https://x.com/megaeth/status/1982502453515071847

https://x.com/kunalgoel/status/1983304334835077425

https://x.com/0xd1namit/status/1981661321101009388

https://claim.monad.xyz/

https://app.hyperliquid.xyz/trade/MON

https://app.hyperliquid.xyz/trade/MEGA

https://www.theblock.co/post/376134/coinbases-base-token-could-be-worth-34-billion-jpmorgan-says

44:36 Circle’s Arc EVM L1 goes to public testnet - RSA triggered

https://www.arc.network/blog/circle-launches-arc-public-testnet

47:00 x402 gets its first signs of traction - 200,000% growth week over week

https://www.x402scan.com/

https://dune.com/programmer/x402

52:27 Trump names Michael Selig to chair CFTC

https://x.com/CoinMarketCap/status/1983262571277762907

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPdqwebmJzE

https://x.com/davidsacks47/status/1982009725110600145

https://x.com/cdixon/status/1981834098932167131

53:41 Trump Media is about to launch a prediction market

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-28/trump-media-plans-to-enter-booming-prediction-markets-business

https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/1982976302803234955

56:46 Western Union is building exclusively on Solana

https://x.com/solana/status/1983215174883430839?s=46&t=LIRWzlNRT68jap2P18vctA

https://x.com/DegenerateNews/status/1983265904348803569

https://x.com/camillionaire_m/status/1983506060343185571

https://x.com/0xMert_/status/1983517171234861273

https://x.com/calilyliu/status/1983386544271704528

https://x.com/vibhu/status/1983568810360643945

1:03:21 3 themes this cycle: Acquisitions, Banks, IPO

https://aave.com/blog/stable-acquire

https://x.com/farcaster_xyz/status/1981398124242620852

https://www.wsj.com/finance/regulation/zelle-stablecoin-cryptocurrency-7ef515e7

https://www.coinbase.com/blog/coinbase-and-citi-collaborate-to-build-the-future-of-payments

https://x.com/brian_armstrong/status/1982850023718105337

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/securitize-the-leading-tokenization-platform-to-become-a-public-company-at-1-25b-valuation-via-business-combination-with-cantor-equity-partners-ii-302596208.html

https://app.rwa.xyz/platforms

https://www.theblock.co/post/376845/metamask-parent-consensys-pursues-ipo-jpmorgan-goldman-axios

1:09:55 Closing & Disclaimers

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures%E2%81%A0