Antoni Trenchev says the Fed is unlikely to be as aggressive as expected and “cheap money” will likely continue to flow into crypto
Nexo co-founder Antoni Trenchev thinks 2022 will be a choppy year for Bitcoin and the broader crypto market.
However, he also believes the availability of “easy money” will continue to work in favour of cryptocurrencies. And he sees the gains for crypto assets linked to this scenario, even as he pointed out the correlation between cryptocurrency markets and stock markets.
In an interview with CNBC on Monday, Trenchev said that increased investment into the crypto ecosystem is one of the reasons there’s greater lockstep trading with equity markets. But this, he added, is a signal to growing adoption and that can only be good for the sector.
Touching on the broader market outlook in relation to the US Federal Reserve’s incoming interest rate hikes, Trenchev said:
“You know I have been very skeptical as to the actions of the Federal Reserve and the proposed rate hikes [and] how that ultimately will unfold. My take is that cheap money is here to stay, and this is very good for assets such as crypto.”
The Nexo executive says that the Fed might not be as aggressive as it is expected, despite projections from Bank of America and other analysts on seven or more interest rate hikes in 2022.
According to him, inflation is expected to rise further as the consumer price index surges to 7.2%.
He told CNBC that the last time inflation raced this fast was in the 1980s, and what the Fed did then was to hike rates 20%. This year, he points to forecasts of 3% in funding rates as an indication that the US central bank won’t be that aggressive.
The Fed, he says, has its work cut out with an” $8 trillion balance sheet they are holding on their books.”
Bitcoin price soared in 2020 and 2021 as governments implanted monetary policies that poured trillions of dollars into the economy, with a lot of it ending in crypto investments. The outlook, according to Trenchev, remains a possibility in 2022.
Trenchev also commented on the metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), noting that the whole ecosystem has the potential to benefit cryptocurrencies.
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