Federal Reserve officials faced a new reality on Wednesday. December inflation data suggest the central bank’s accepted a higher floor for price stability to prevent an economic contraction. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.7% year-over-year. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, remained at 2.6%.
Cryptocurrency market analysts argue the latest figures confirm a “soft default” strategy. The central bank’s allowing inflation to stay above its historic 2% mandate to monetize sovereign debt. Scarcity-based assets like Bitcoin gain significant appeal in an environment where the dollar’s purchasing power’s intentionally eroded.
Normalizing a New Inflation Baseline
Structural price pressures stayed embedded in the economy throughout the final month of 2025. Shelter costs saw a 4.8% annualized increase. Federal Reserve officials have shown no appetite for the aggressive interest rate hikes required to return inflation to the literal 2% target. The Fed’s prioritizing labor market stability over absolute price destruction.
Bitcoin Emerges as the Sovereign Hedge
Market reactions show a significant repricing of fiat risk. Bitcoin decoupled from traditional risk assets following the report. Investors are bidding the asset higher to escape the erosion of purchasing power. The dollar’s losing value faster than the risk-free rate compensates for after taxes and real inflation. Capital must migrate to assets that can’t be debased by a central bank.
The era of Volcker-style obsession with absolute price levels ended this week. Real assets’re now outperforming nominal cash benchmarks on most institutional trading desks. Professional allocators’re treating the 2.6% core inflation print as a permanent feature of the 2026 financial cycle rather than a temporary spike.
Services Inflation and the Liquidity Floor
The report highlighted a stall in the final stages of disinflation. Service sector inflation remains robust. Real average hourly earnings rose 1.1% year-over-year. Wage growth prevents a recession. It also establishes a floor under consumer demand and prices. The Fed’s current path involves managing this “stagflation-lite” scenario by maintaining current liquidity levels.
Crypto investors view a “no recession, high inflation” scenario as an optimal environment for digital commodities. The dynamic forces liquidity into the system to support growth. It simultaneously erodes the denominator against which crypto assets’re priced. The market’s currently declaring that in a world of persistent price pressure, Bitcoin’s no longer a risk asset. It’s an essential macro hedge.
Chain Street’s Take
The Fed just blinked. Jerome Powell’s acceptance of 2.6% core inflation effectively admits the 2% target’s a fairy tale. The “Soft Landing” functions as a soft default on the dollar’s purchasing power. The central bank’s choosing inflation over a depression. For crypto investors, the signal’s absolute. The central bank turned up the thermostat on the melting ice cube of cash. The 2.6% floor’s the best marketing campaign Bitcoin’s had in a generation.
