By the end of his term as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, in May 2026, Jerome Powell will have held this position in all or part of three presidential administrations: Trump I, Biden and Trump II.
This feature is part of CoinDesk 2025 Most Influential List.
Powell will likely be best remembered for his battles with U.S. President Donald Trump, the man who first nominated him for president in early 2018 (he was reappointed for another four-year term in 2022 by President Biden), but his more lasting legacy may be his response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. This influx of liquidity into the financial system may or may not have eased the general public’s pain during the lockdown period, but it surely helped create one of the biggest rallies ever recorded for financial assets (including cryptocurrencies) as well as causing the country’s first major inflation since the 1970s.
Towards the end of 2025, this inflation – although it has receded far from its worst levels in 2022, when it was near double digits for much of the year – continues to create problems for monetary policymaking.
In fact, the Fed’s final policy meeting of the year, on December 9-10, will be remembered as one of the most controversial in the central bank’s history. Signs of an economic slowdown, as evidenced by recent reports on employment and the manufacturing sector, would normally prompt the Fed to act hastily and almost unanimously to ease monetary policy by lowering its benchmark federal funds rate.
However, inflation remains stubbornly above the Fed’s 2% target. In the weeks leading up to the meeting, a number of Fed policymakers made no secret in their public comments of their disagreement not only with further easing in December, but even with a rate cut in October.
Debate is a good thing, but the central bank has been a collegial group for decades, with differences of opinion so rare that even a single member voting against a policy decision would make headlines. Powell’s final decision to cut rates by another 25 basis points last week sparked three dissents — two from members who preferred to keep policy unchanged and one who wanted a 50 basis point cut.
Crypto and the Fed – Rally and Crash
The connection between Fed policy and crypto markets is no secret: All things being equal, prices of speculative assets like crypto tend to perform better when monetary policy is loose and tend to struggle when policy is tightened.
This was certainly the case in 2020, when the Powell Fed’s massive response to the COVID-19 pandemic helped send bitcoin on its epic run from around $3,000 to $65,000 13 months later.
This was also certainly the case in 2022, when bitcoin crashed to $15,000 by the end of the year as Powell’s Fed – finally gaining confidence in inflation – serially increased its benchmark interest rate from 0.00% in January to 4% in December (the rate ultimately peaked at 5.25% in mid-2023).
Bitcoin’s rise this year to a record high above $125,000 was accompanied by two rate cuts from the Fed. Its price collapse in recent weeks, however, began right after the Oct. 28-29 Fed meeting, where Chairman Powell said market expectations for further central bank easing were far too dovish.
The reaction was swift, with bitcoin rising from over $113,000 to $107,000 a day later and $80,000 three weeks later. There has been a slight rebound since at least the December rate cut. However, markets have significantly dampened expectations for further easing in January.
Move on
Powell’s term as Fed chair ends in May 2026, and President Trump has made clear he has no plans to reappoint him. Recent leaks from the White House actually suggest that Trump could name Powell’s successor before the New Year.
The move would effectively create a shadow Fed chair for Powell to face in the final months of his term.
And even though Powell’s reign as Fed chair will end next spring, he could, if he chooses, remain a member of the Board of Governors. His fourteen-year mandate within this organization will not end until 2028.
