Ethereum Holds Near $2,434 as Clarity Act Fails and Fed Hike Lands

It was a brutal week for crypto policy, and Ethereum came through it in better shape than most expected.

Written by:
Sophia Cruz•Friday, September 18, 2026•2 min read
•Last updated: Friday, September 18, 2026

Quick overview

• Ethereum managed to maintain its price above $2,400 despite recent legislative setbacks and a Federal Reserve interest rate hike.
• The Senate’s vote to block the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act led to a brief sell-off in Bitcoin and ETH, but both quickly found buyers.
• Ethereum’s network activity surged in the second quarter, processing 203.9 million transactions, a 68% increase year over year.
• Vitalik Buterin supports a proposal aimed at enhancing Ethereum’s quantum resistance, while discussions about blockchain infrastructure for stock trading continue.

It was a brutal week for crypto policy, and Ethereum came through it in better shape than most expected. ETH was trading near $2,434 Thursday, holding above the $2,400 level that has become the line everyone is watching after two major events landed back to back and failed to knock it lower.

The Senate voted 49 to 50 on Monday to block debate on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, killing the bill’s best chance of passing this year. Bitcoin dropped nearly 3% on the news and ETH fell about 5%, but both found buyers quickly. The sell-off lasted hours, not days, which says something about how the market has learned to absorb legislative disappointment after watching this bill get delayed more times than most traders can count.

Wednesday brought the Fed’s decision, and it went exactly the way markets had priced it. A 25-basis-point hike lifted the target rate to 3.75% to 4%, the first increase since 2023. Ethereum barely moved. Trading around $2,400 through the announcement and the press conference, it was one of the quietest reactions to a rate decision in months. That is what happens when a move is 92% priced in before it arrives.

The network itself has not been waiting on Washington to keep busy. Ethereum’s layer-one processed 203.9 million transactions in the second quarter, up 68% year over year, with average throughput hitting an all-time high of 25.9 transactions per second. On-chain activity and the spot price have been moving in different directions for most of 2026, but the gap between the two has been narrowing.

One development on the technical side is worth noting. Vitalik Buterin has backed EIP-8288, a proposal that would introduce recursive STARK aggregation to cut the cost of quantum-safe transactions dramatically, potentially from ten million gas units down to tens of thousands. It is in draft form with no confirmed timeline, but it fits into the Ethereum Foundation’s stated goal of full quantum resistance across all layers by December 2029.

An SEC roundtable pitting Ethereum against Solana to power 24/7 stock trading is also on the calendar following the Fed decision, a signal that the conversation about which blockchain infrastructure underpins the next generation of financial markets is moving forward regardless of what Congress does or doesn’t pass.

Coinbase

ETH’s price range on Thursday was $2,410 to $2,450. The $2,400 level is the floor traders are defending. Whether it holds through the weekend depends largely on whether oil, which was back above $104 a barrel Thursday afternoon, keeps pushing inflation expectations higher and gives the Fed reason to signal more hikes are coming.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Sophia Cruz
Financial Writer – Asian & European Desks
Sophia is an experienced writer, reporter and newsdesk member, mostly on the financial sectors. For the past 5 years Sophia has covered a wide variety of topics such as the financial markets, economics, technology, fin-tech and trading. Sophia has been a part of the FX Leaders team since 2017 and works on producing valuable content and information for traders of all levels of experience.

Source: www.fxleaders.com