The U.S. is printing dollars and slashing interest rates to help the people, but will it affect the crypto market?
Policymakers around the world have committed unprecedented amounts of fresh money in a bid to stave off an impending recession, or worse: a total depression. In the United States, the Senate approved a $2 trillion stimulus package in late March, and the House of Representatives has now accepted a proposal from House Democrats for another $3 trillion meant to ease the needs of Americans who are facing an unemployment rate of nearly 15%. As a response to COVID-19, the Federal Reserve has undertaken a wave of quantitative easing unparalleled in its history.
As the monetary body responsible for managing the world’s reserve currency, the Fed uses quantitative easing as a means of infusing the economy with fresh liquidity. Having total control over money printing allows the Fed to print as many dollars as it wants, which it then injects into the financial system by purchasing assets on the open market.
Market observers recall the aftermath of the Great Recession in 2008, when the Fed brought up over $1.2 trillion worth of assets in just four months as a way to pump fresh capital into the markets. However, the scale of quantitative easing undertaken in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis dwarfs anything that happened before, with the Fed putting no cap on the amount of money it plans to infuse into the system.
Over the past 2 1/2 months, the Fed has purchased around $2.8 trillion worth of assets. Unlike in the aftermath of 2008 when the governing body limited its asset purchases to secure U.S. Treasury bonds, this time around it has committed to buying riskier assets such as corporate and municipal bonds as well.