The Federal Reserve's interest rate cut fails to move markets while cryptocurrency regulators take significant steps

Liquidity and cryptocurrency markets have largely remained unaffected after the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates to 3.50%-3.75% in its third move for 2025. At the same time, regulators in the United States issued conditional banking licenses to companies such as Ripple and Circle, among others, allowing for stablecoin settlements through the Federal Reserve. Ripple's CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, described the approval as "a huge step forward" in the compliance space. In other news, Do Kwon, the founder of the Terra project, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) launched a pilot program allowing the use of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDC as margin collateral. The agency also emphasized its commitment to combating terrorism financing in its compliance framework update.