Powell presides over his final FOMC, with Waller taking over a $6.7 trillion balance sheet

Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell will preside over his final Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) press conference of his tenure on April 29 (Wednesday), bringing an end to his eight-year chairmanship. After being succeeded by Kevin Warsh, the nominee from Trump, he will face a policy environment marked by a 6.7 trillion U.S. dollar Federal Reserve balance sheet and a resurgence in inflation.

Powell’s Major Policy Highlights

According to the Fed’s publicly available records, when Powell took over as chair in February 2018, he inherited an environment in which interest rates were about 1.5%, overall inflation was close to the 2% target, and the balance sheet had already been縮减 as planned.

COVID-19 response in 2020: According to Fed announcements, within less than three weeks the Fed cut rates to zero, restarted its asset purchase program, and launched nine emergency lending facilities. Wall Street Journal reporter Nick Timiraos said: “Powell held up against some moderate hawkish resistance during the sweeping emergency rate cut on March 15, 2020.” During this period, the Fed’s balance sheet expanded to 9 trillion U.S. dollars, and according to market data, Bitcoin rose over the same span from about $5,000 to more than $69,000 in November 2021.

Tightening cycle: Powell subsequently carried out the most aggressive rate-hike cycle since Paul Volcker, taking the policy rate from zero to 5.5% without triggering a severe economic recession or a collapse in the labor market.

2024 remarks on digital assets: At the DealBook summit, Powell said: “It’s like gold, only it’s virtual… It’s not a rival to the dollar; it’s a rival to gold.” According to market data, those remarks pushed Bitcoin above $103,000 that day.

Policy missteps: delayed rate hikes and the collapse of three regional banks

According to public records, in 2021 Powell adopted “transitional inflation” language, only officially launching rate hikes in March 2022, when CPI had already exceeded 7%. When Kevin Warsh testified before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee on April 21, 2026, he said: “Once inflation takes root in the economy, the cost and difficulty of suppressing it are higher, which is why the fatal policy mistake from four or five years ago is still a legacy problem we are dealing with today… We need to fundamentally change how policy is made.”

After that, the Fed raised rates 11 times over 16 months. According to public reports, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank all failed in March 2023 in succession due to long-term U.S. Treasury losses.

Public policy stance after Warsh took office

Based on Warsh’s public statements at the confirmation hearing, his key policy priorities include:

· Pushing a new inflation framework, suggesting a possible end to the FOMC press conference tradition after meetings, and pledging not to act as a “puppet” of any political force

· Accelerating quantitative tightening (QT), reducing the 6.7 trillion U.S. dollar Fed balance sheet

· Calling Bitcoin a “sustainable store-of-value mechanism,” ruling out the possibility of launching a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC)

· Disclosing holdings of more than $100 million in assets, covering Layer 1 networks, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, and Bitcoin payment infrastructure

Based on the Fed’s dot plot in March and data from the CME FedWatch tool, policymakers expect to cut rates only once each in 2026 and 2027, and the 2026 core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) growth forecast has been raised from 2.4% to 2.7%.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is Powell’s final FOMC press conference scheduled, and what is the current interest rate level?

According to the Fed’s published schedule, Powell is set to host his final FOMC press conference on April 29, 2026 (Wednesday). As of this meeting, the target range for the federal funds rate has been kept at 3.50% to 3.75% for the third straight time, and March CPI is 3.3%.

How does Kevin Warsh assess Powell’s monetary policy legacy?

According to Warsh’s public testimony submitted to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee on April 21, 2026, he called the delayed rate hikes in 2021 a “fatal policy misstep,” emphasized that once inflation takes root it becomes harder to restrain, and said there is a need to “fundamentally change how policy is made.”

What public positions does Warsh take on digital assets, and what does his personal holdings disclosure show?

Based on public records from the confirmation hearing, Warsh said Bitcoin is a “sustainable store-of-value mechanism,” and ruled out the possibility of launching a retail CBDC. Warsh also disclosed holding more than $100 million in assets, covering Layer 1 networks, DeFi protocols, and Bitcoin payment infrastructure.