The United States Federal Reserve is still unintentionally advertising Bitcoin, as Chair Jerome Powell argues for more money printing.
In a tweet on Nov. 6, Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of exchange Gemini, said that Powell’s latest speech this week was “code for buy Bitcoin.”
Powell: Congress should agree more stimulus
Powell was addressing a news conference, which followed the Fed’s Nov. 5 meeting on the state of the economy and future measures.
As before, he reiterated that the central bank had not exhausted its range of tools for supporting the economy. These have so far included heavy interventions in stock markets, financial stimulus measures and direct payments to Americans.
“I just would say that I think we’ll have a stronger recovery if we can just get some more fiscal support, when it’s appropriate… the size Congress thinks is appropriate,” he said, quoted by Reuters.
Bitcoin proponents have long warned about the long-term impact of short-term meddling in the economy by central banks, this represented by the huge increase in public debt seen in the U.S. and elsewhere in 2020.
The Fed’s balance sheet stood at $7.14 trillion on Friday, near record highs. U.S. national debt has topped $27.2 trillion, a figure never before seen in history.
“Virtually no BTC left for sale”
In what some this week described as a clear demonstration of simple supply and demand at work, Bitcoin — with its fixed supply — continued climbing as Powell delivered his speech.
The largest cryptocurrency has gained over 15% since the start of the week, rising to levels not seen since the end of 2017.
According to quant analyst PlanB and others, this is to be expected, as six months after its block subsidy halving cut the supply of new Bitcoins in half, investors have bought up the slack.
These have included existing corporate buyers who have upped their requirements, among them payment gateway Square, which saw 80% of its Q3 revenue come from Bitcoin.
“There is virtually no BTC left for sale,” the popular Twitter account girevik summarized, noting large buyer support on exchanges at levels below $13,000. Sellers have yet to impact the market, even at close to $16,000.