Bitcoin dips to $78.4K as Fed’s Warsh downplays softer inflation prints

Bitcoin (BTC) saw volatility after Friday’s Wall Street open as markets reacted to US Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh’s comments on future monetary policy.

Key points:

• Bitcoin initially fell during Fed chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole keynote speech before circling $79,500.
• Warsh said he sees no trend change in inflation despite recent lower PCE and CPI prints.
• BTC price action sustaining above $83,000 hinges on Bitcoin derivatives traders, analysis says.

Warsh: Inflation trends have not “meaningfully improved”

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD dipping to $78,442 on Bitstamp in volatile trading conditions, down around 1% at the time of writing.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

In his first keynote speech at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium, Warsh delivered a cautionary tone on inflation, committing to the Fed’s 2% target. The Fed chair doubled down on an earlier pledge to reduce the scope of hints over future policy that the Fed offers to markets, avoiding forward guidance altogether and stating that it would not make a reappearance in the future.

“Forward guidance as a regular practice was adopted by my colleagues and me during the Global Financial Crisis. It was essential at the time, and we introduced it with much fanfare. But, as with other legacies of crises past, I believe that the practice has overstayed its welcome,” he stated.