Jerome Powell confirmed to continue as US Federal Reserve chairman

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Jerome Powell has been confirmed to continue as the chairman of governing board of the United States Federal Reserve Bank. The U.S. Senate voted 80-19 to give Powell a second four-year term at the central bank’s highest office.

The vote was conducted in a recent Senate floor session after it was delayed by misunderstandings in the Senate. Powell first became the Fed chair in 2018, ending his first tenure in February 2022.

Senators, even the ranking members of the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Patrick Toomey (R-Pa.), have expressed confidence in Powell’s leadership of the country’s central bank.

“Chairman Powell’s leadership has helped spur economic growth while preserving the best capitalized banking system in American history,” Toomey said in a statement.

Powell has been outspoken about his thoughts on digital currencies during his first term. He has repeatedly called for the government to provide regulatory clarity, noting that it is the only way the digital currency industry can thrive safely. 

Early this year, he opined that private digital currencies like BTC “could compete with the U.S. dollar” for dominance as the global reserve currency. However, Powell maintains that the U.S. will not follow China’s steps to ban digital currencies. This is despite work being carried out to study the issuance of the digital dollar.

Powell’s policies have often swayed the digital currency market

During his four-year stint as the Fed chair, the 69-year-old has led the U.S. economy through several notable events, including the pandemic and the current 40-decade high inflation levels. The policies he has taken during this period have had marked effects on the digital currency market. 

At present, high volatility in the market has been coinciding with monetary policy adjustments being made by the Fed to combat inflation. The high volatility in asset markets has manifested in the digital currency sector with the most recent example being a jump in the price of BTC. 

Early this month, the price of BTC climbed to $40,000 as the Fed announced that it would not be making any major interest rate adjustments soon, as noted by CNBC. 

Despite the Senate’s confidence in his leadership, Powell’s policies have also received criticisms from industry leaders. Per a Bloomberg report, several former top Fed officials criticized Powell’s handling of the current inflation trend in the country.

They state that under Powell, the Fed was slow to respond to surging prices, held interest rates at zero for too long, and boosted the nation’s balance sheet by too much. 

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