The price climbed as much as 1.5% at one point, but then declined. It was last trading higher by 0.1% at $23,034.29, according to Coin Metrics. It struggled to hold the $23,000 level in the previous session.
Powell said in a question-and-answer session at The Economic Club of Washington, D.C. that although the process of getting inflation down has started, it “has a long way to go” and that these are “the very early stages.”
“We expect 2023 to be a year of significant declines in inflation. It’s actually our job to make sure that that’s the case,” he said. “My guess is it will take certainly into not just this year, but next year to get down close to 2%.”
Crypto prices pulled back and eventually turned lower with the broader market, as Powell said future economic reports may force the central bank to keep hiking rates aggressively.
Treasury yields declined during the speech – the 10-year fell 1 basis point and the 2-year lost 5 basis points. The U.S. dollar index also dipped. Yields and the dollar index tend to move tend to move inversely to crypto.
After climbing about 40% to start the year, bitcoin has hit a speed bump in the past week as investors that have doubted the staying power of the rally prepare for further macro-driven volatility in crypto prices this year.
