The president of the United States Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, offered few changes in the position of his recent comments, reiterating that the economy is in a good place, giving the Central Bank the Chamber to be patient before considering the ease of monetary policy.
“At the moment, we are well positioned to wait to learn more about the probable course of the economy before considering any adjustment to our policy position,” Powell said in comments prepared for his semiannual monetary policy report to Congress.
Today’s testimony is particularly given the conversations this week of the governors of Fed Chris Waller and Michelle Bowman. Both said they would support a tariff cut at the next meeting of the Fed. To date, Powell has not given any indication that he is considering such movement.
The break with Powell, by itself, does not necessarily news, occurs when President Trump continues to make clear his disgust with the reluctance of the Fed president to relieve monetary policy.
The probabilities of rate cuts for July continue to be quite thin in just 18.6%, according to CME Fedwatch. Passing to September, the probabilities of one or more target cuts jump to more than 80%.
Powell was asked more than once on issues that affect the cryptographic industry, although it was not a significant area of questions on Tuesday.
When asked about changing cryptographic interests in American banking, he said that he sees “a very significant change in the tone” that suggests a future increase in the activity of digital assets based on “evolutionary thinking and the evolutionary state of the cryptographic industry.” While his agency had been accused by the industry of encouraging banks to stay away from cryptography due to the risk of the industry, he said that Fed’s opinion “is that banks can decide who their clients are.”
“Banks are also free of cryptographic activities, as long as they do so in a way that protects security and solidity,” he told legislators.
Powell also expressed his support for the progress of cryptographic legislation in Congress.
“I think it’s a great thing that invoices are moving,” he said. “We need it. We need a Stablecoin frame.”
Update (June 24, 2025, 17:13 UTC): Add Powell comments about cryptography issues.
