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Fed's Powell Wins Forbes' Crypto Person of the Year Honors; Do They Give Awards for Snark?

A side effect of the Fed's medicine for the pandemic-stricken U.S. economy was to create conditions ideal for the rise of cryptocurrencies.

Updated Sep 14, 2021, 10:48 a.m. Published Dec 27, 2020, 12:48 a.m.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is the winner of Forbes' inaugural "Person of the Year in Crypto" award, an honor for which the central bank chairman is unlikely to make room on his mantel.

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  • Because Powell's Fed effectively printed more than $3 trillion in new money, almost doubling the central bank's balance sheet in the process, it helped create an atmosphere that converted many long-time crypto skeptics into believers, Forbes noted. Forbes quoted venture firm Pantera Capital as saying the Fed's actions created "two centuries of debt in one month."
  • That spending spree and concomitant debt explosion led one of the judges, Anthony Pompliano of Morgan Creek Digital, to credit Powell with basically creating a "$3 trillion marketing campaign for bitcoin."
  • Crypto investors have been betting all year the flood of government and central bank spending to fight the coronavirus-caused economic slowdown will eventually lead to inflation, against which bitcoin is viewed as a hedge.

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GP Basic Image

What to know:

  • As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
  • GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
  • Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.

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Federal Reserve Cuts Rates 25 Basis Points, With Two Voting for Steady Policy

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell

The anticipated move comes as policymakers are still operating without several key economic data releases that remain delayed or suspended due to the U.S. government shutdown.

What to know:

  • As expected, the Federal Reserve trimmed its benchmark fed funds rate range by 25 basis points on Wednesday afternoon.
  • Today's cut is notable given the unusually large amount of public dissension among Fed members for further monetary ease.
  • Two Fed members dissented from the rate cut, preferring instead to hold rates steady, while one member voted for a 50 basis point rate cut.