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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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Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

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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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ETH, ADA, XRP Lead Gains as Bitcoin Edges Higher on Fed Rate Cut Expectations

Bull, matador (Credit: Paul Kenny McGrath/Unsplash)

Asian equities opened the week slightly higher ahead of a heavy run of central bank decisions, including a Federal Reserve meeting where markets have largely priced in a 25-basis-point rate cut.

What to know:

  • Bitcoin traded above $91,300 as Asian equities opened higher, with markets anticipating a Federal Reserve rate cut.
  • Bitcoin rose 2% in 24 hours, facing resistance near $94,000, while Ether gained 3% to $3,135.
  • Despite crypto market gains, sentiment remains cautious, with potential for a deeper slowdown without new liquidity.