Bitcoin Price Slides to $22K as Powell Warns on Inflation

The Federal Reserve chairman said economic figures from January were stronger than expected.

AccessTimeIconMar 7, 2023 at 3:20 p.m. UTC
Updated Mar 7, 2023 at 10:21 p.m. UTC
Alex Thorn
Head of Firmwide Research
Galaxy
Hear Alex Thorn share his take on "Bitcoin and Inflation: It’s Complicated” at Consensus 2023.
Alex Thorn
Head of Firmwide Research
Galaxy
Consensus 2023 Logo
Hear Alex Thorn share his take on "Bitcoin and Inflation: It’s Complicated” at Consensus 2023.

Stephen Alpher is CoinDesk's co-regional news chief, Americas. He holds BTC and ETH above CoinDesk’s disclosure threshold of $1,000.

Alex Thorn
Head of Firmwide Research
Galaxy
Hear Alex Thorn share his take on "Bitcoin and Inflation: It’s Complicated” at Consensus 2023.
Alex Thorn
Head of Firmwide Research
Galaxy
Consensus 2023 Logo
Hear Alex Thorn share his take on "Bitcoin and Inflation: It’s Complicated” at Consensus 2023.

Inflationary pressures are running higher than expected, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in prepared remarks before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell about 1.6% to below $22,000 in the immediate aftermath of the release of the remarks. The price has bounced a bit since, recently trading at $22,100, while the S&P 500 was down 0.75%.

"The data from January on employment, consumer spending, manufacturing production and inflation have partly reversed the softening [inflation] trends," Powell said.

While allowing that unseasonably warm weather in January might be responsible for the higher-than-expected inflation figures, Powell said the "process" of returning inflation to the Fed's target of 2% "has a long way to go and is likely to be bumpy."



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Stephen Alpher is CoinDesk's co-regional news chief, Americas. He holds BTC and ETH above CoinDesk’s disclosure threshold of $1,000.


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Stephen Alpher is CoinDesk's co-regional news chief, Americas. He holds BTC and ETH above CoinDesk’s disclosure threshold of $1,000.