By the time his term as chairman of the Federal Reserve System ends in May 2026, Jerome Powell will have served in that role across all or parts of three presidential administrations — Trump I, Biden and Trump II.
This feature is part of CoinDesk’s The list of most influential 2025.
Powell will likely be most remembered for his battles with US President Donald Trump, the man who first nominated him for the presidency in early 2018 (he was renominated for another four-year term in 2022 by President Biden), but his more lasting legacy could be his response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. This flood of liquidity into the financial system may or may not have eased the general public’s pain during the lockdown era, but it certainly helped create one of the largest-ever rallies in financial assets (crypto among them), as well as creating the nation’s first major inflation since the 1970s.
Approaching the end of 2025, this inflation – although falling well back from its worst level in 2022, when it was at a near double-digit percentage for most of the year – continues to pose problems for monetary policy.
In fact, the Fed’s last policy meeting this year will be on the 9th-10th. December will be remembered as one of the most controversial in the central bank’s history. Signs of an economic slowdown, as evidenced by recent soft employment and manufacturing reports, would normally prompt the Fed to act with haste and near unanimity to ease monetary policy by lowering its benchmark interest 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 over not just further easing in December, but even October’s rate cut.
Debate is fine, but the central bank has been a collegial group for decades, with deviations from the larger opinion so rare that even a single member voting against a policy decision would make headlines. Powell’s Fed’s final decision to cut interest rates by another 25 basis points last week drew three dissents – two from members who preferred to keep policy steady and one who wanted to cut 50 basis points.
Crypto and Fed – rallies and crumbles
The connection between Fed policy and crypto markets is no secret: all things being equal, the prices of speculative assets like crypto tend to do better when monetary policy is eased and tend to struggle when policy is tightened.
That was certainly the case in 2020, when Powell’s 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.
That was certainly the case in 2022 as well, with bitcoin crumbling to $15,000 by the end of the year as Powell’s Fed – finally getting religious about inflation – serially raised its benchmark interest rate from 0.00% in January to 4% in December (the rate eventually peaked at 5.25% in mid-2023).
Bitcoin’s rise this year to a record high above $125,000 was accompanied by two interest rate cuts by the Fed. However, its crumbling price in recent weeks began just after the Fed’s meeting on 28-29. October, when Chairman Powell said that the market’s expectations for further central bank easing were all too well.
The reaction was swift, with bitcoin falling from over $113,000 to $107,000 a day later and $80,000 three weeks later. There has been a modest recovery since at least the December interest rate cut was realized. Nevertheless, the markets have strongly dampened expectations of further easing in January.
Moving on
Powell’s term as Fed chairman ends in May 2026, and President Trump has made it clear he has no intention of renominating him. Indeed, the latest leaks from the White House suggest that Trump could name Powell’s successor before the New Year.
The move would effectively create a shadowy Fed chair for Powell to deal with in the final months of his term.
And while Powell’s reign as Fed chairman ends next spring, he can remain a member of the board if he chooses. His 14-year tenure on that body will not end until 2028.
