Bitcoin slips below $80,000 after Kevin Warsh inflation vow

Bitcoin slipped back below $80,000 on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh pledged to bring inflation back to target, pushing short-term Treasury yields higher and cooling some of the week’s risk-on momentum.

The move was modest rather than a reversal of the broader crypto rebound. Warsh said financial conditions are not restrictive and stressed that inflation must move clearly toward the Fed’s target, reinforcing expectations that policy could stay tighter for longer. Bitcoin eased with other rate-sensitive assets but remained well above levels seen earlier this month.

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh warned inflation isn’t meaningfully slowing and said policymakers must be confident that it is, otherwise the central bank has “work to do.”

In a sweeping speech, his first since becoming chairman of the central bank in May, Warsh reiterated that policymakers will return inflation to their 2% goal, which he said is a firm and fixed target.

“Here is my standard: We must be confident that underlying inflation is moving to our objective, clearly and at sufficient speed. Otherwise, we have work to do. That’s our job,” Warsh said at the Fed’s annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Friday.