Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack — a former Goldman Sachs executive appointed in 2024 — has carved out a reputation as one of the Federal Reserve’s most hawkish voices. That stance will matter more in 2026: Hammack will join the Federal Open Market Committee’s roster of voting district presidents, giving her a direct vote on interest-rate policy. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Hammack signaled she’s not ready to embrace easier policy. “My base case is that we can stay here [with rates] for some period of time, until we get clearer evidence that either inflation is coming back down to target or the employment side is weakening more materially,” she said. She also questioned last week’s surprisingly large drop in the November Consumer Price Index — headline inflation fell to 2.7% from 3.1%, with a similar pullback in core — calling the decline “distorted” by last fall’s government shutdown. Hammack’s own calculations put inflation closer to 2.9%–3.0%, roughly in line with prior economist forecasts. That view contrasts sharply with comments from one contender to be the next Fed chair, Governor Chris Waller, who recently judged the current fed funds range (3.5%–3.75%) to be 50–100 basis points above neutral — meaning policy is still restrictive. Hammack, by contrast, told the WSJ she thinks the fed funds range is “a little bit below” neutral, implying policy may already be somewhat stimulative. That is a wide split between two influential policymakers and signals potential dissents on FOMC votes in 2026, complicating any chair’s effort to secure the seven votes typically needed to set policy. Why this matters to crypto: easier central-bank policy is generally supportive for risk assets, including bitcoin, stocks and commodities. This year stocks and many commodities have benefited from easier conditions, but bitcoin has not followed the same script — it began a steep decline soon after the Fed’s first rate cut in September, even as many other risk assets raced higher. (Bitcoin was quoted at $88,122.79 in the original piece.) Bottom line for markets and crypto traders: Hammack’s hawkish tilt and her impending FOMC vote raise the odds that the Fed may be slower to ease than some expect. That uncertainty — combined with sharply differing views among potential Fed leaders — could keep volatility elevated across risk assets, including bitcoin. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

#BTC