Bitcoin Gained 26% in August, But Fed’s Kevin Warsh Says It Could Be Over
Bitcoin gained about 26% in a month. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh just told the world’s finance chiefs why that run may be ending.
Cheap money is over, he argues. Growth is picking up, and cash is chasing new projects. That pushes interest rates up, not down.
Warsh Says the Easy Money is Gone
Warsh has run the Fed for 100 days. He spoke on Monday at the Group of 20 (G20) meeting in Asheville, North Carolina. It gathers finance ministers and central bankers.
For years, economists blamed too much idle cash and too few good projects. That kept borrowing cheap. Warsh says that world is finished. He made the same case at Jackson Hole on Friday.
“It wasn’t so long ago … when economists and policymakers were speaking of secular stagnation and a global saving glut,” said Warsh.
Money is now pouring into artificial intelligence, he said. He cannot call today’s conditions tight. Inflation still runs at 3.7% a year.
Bessent Says He Cannot Fight It
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sat beside him on Monday in Asheville. On August 19, Bessent doubled the size of Treasury’s bond buybacks to at least $4 billion each. A buyback means the government buys back its own long-term debt.
Critics said the real goal was to push borrowing costs down. Bessent denies it.
“I don’t think I can change the equilibrium price. My job is to slow things down … and make sure that the market doesn’t get disorderly,” he said on Monday’s panel.
However, the market is not listening, with the 30-year Treasury yield reaching about 5.26% the same day, to mark a 19-year high. The 10-year yield also surged to 4.76%.
Stanley Druckenmiller has seen this film before. He ran the 1992 bet that broke the Bank of England. Britain was defending a price it could not hold. Bessent worked at Soros Fund Management then. Druckenmiller says he is repeating the mistake.
Bessent addressed the row directly on Monday. He said he has spoken with Druckenmiller since the op-ed ran, and suggested the timing cost his former mentor money in the market.
*BESSENT: THINK DRUCKENMILLER LOST MONEY DAY HE SENT EDITORIAL
— tradfi news (@tradfi) August 31, 2026
Why Bitcoin Holders Should Care
Investors bought hard assets in August because they expected the dollar to keep losing value. Warsh describes the opposite world. Stronger growth lifts interest rates. Savers then get paid to wait. Bitcoin pays nothing.
Both gold and Bitcoin retreated after his Jackson Hole speech. The bigger risk is Warsh, not Bessent, as a risky September market pattern sits ahead too.