Wilshire Phoenix CEO Explains $168B US Fed Injection and Crypto Correlation

The U.S. Federal Reserve injected $168 billion into finance several days ago, which correlates to Bitcoin’s current falling price.

“So long as the broader markets keep falling – expect the same out of Bitcoin,” Bill Herrmann, CEO of alternative investment firm Wilshire Phoenix told Cointelegraph as part of an explanation of the Fed’s recent actions.

What’s going on in the market?

Traditional markets have plummeted recently surrounding coronavirus fears and oil trade wars. After several previous red days, the Dow Industrial Average (DJI) fell 10% on March 12, concluding the most disastrous day U.S. markets have seen since the Black Monday crash of 1987, a CNBC report detailed.

Bitcoin faced a similar fate, falling from $6,000 to $3,850 on the same day.

In an effort to combat falling markets, the American Fed pumped $168 billion of cash into the financial system on March 10. That amount totals about 82% more than all the money currently invested in Bitcoin, which holds a press time market cap of approximately $92 billion.

At the time of Cointelegraph’s article on the Fed’s actions, Bitcoin held a slightly higher market cap of $145 billion.

What exactly happened with the Fed?

The Federal Reserve’s current market intervention push dates back to September 2019, Herrmann said. “The Fed restarted repo operations last September soon after money-markets issues triggered a substantial loss of control over their interest-rate target,” Herrmann explained, adding:

“The repo operation is meant to take in Treasuries, mortgages, and agency securities in exchange for cash. It’s basically a loan to a bank, collateralized by the aforementioned bonds. I know the Fed had hoped to keep this a temporary measure, but hope is often not a very good strategy.”

Herrmann mentioned the Fed’s recent capital play as tiny in the grand scheme of things. “The latest rounds of injections are like throwing pennies at a freight train and expecting it to stop — it’s simply not enough funds,” he said. “My best guess is that the Fed was trying to instill confidence in the system, but what they need to do though is to stop thinking like academics and actually do something meaningful.”

Concluding his thoughts, the CEO said:

“It may sound crazy, but I think it takes $700bn to over a $1tn to stabilize the markets. The last few weeks are a prime example of why digital assets, namely Bitcoin, have a place in the global markets.”

If the Fed’s recent multi-billion dollar play is a relatively small sum, then Bitcoin is still an extremely small asset, despite being the largest player in the overall cryptocurrency industry.

Europe’s central bank also recently showed similar behavior, announcing a $135 billion stimulus.