Analyst who predicted 2021 crash says 'markets were better off with Powell'

On April 29, Jerome Powell addressed the United States Federal Reserve as chair for the last time.

Apart from keeping the interest rates unchanged at 3.5%–3.75% range, Powell also announced that he would remain on the Board of Governors until at least January 2028.

"I had long planned to be retiring," Powell said. "The things that have happened really in the last three months have, I think, left me no choice but to stay until I see them through at least that long."

However, an analyst feels Powell was much better for the crypto markets.

Related: Fed Chair Powell calls on Congress to create regulations around crypto

A cautiously pro-crypto chair 

For all the friction between Powell and crypto markets over interest rates, his tenure quietly delivered meaningful wins for the industry.

In June 2025, during his semiannual testimony to Congress, Powell affirmed that U.S. banks are free to provide services to cryptocurrency companies, so long as they follow established risk management and consumer protection standards. 

The Fed simultaneously removed "reputational risk" from its bank supervision framework. This was a long-standing barrier that had allowed examiners to deny banking access to crypto firms on vague, subjective grounds, aligning the Fed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which made similar reforms earlier that year. 

On Bitcoin (BTC), in 2024, Powell described it as a potential digital alternative to gold, and not dollar. 

On stablecoins, he backed a formal regulatory framework and noted that stablecoin transfer volume had surpassed Visa, hitting nearly $14 trillion last year. 

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Analyst compares Powell with Gensler

It is against this backdrop that Benjamin Cowen, the analyst who correctly predicted the 2021 crypto market crash, issued a stark warning on X on April 29. 

Drawing a direct parallel to the departure of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler in January 2025, when Bitcoin was trading at $109,000 compared to $75,000 on the last FOMC meeting, Cowen argued that the celebration around Powell's exit mirrors the same misplaced optimism that followed Gensler's removal. 

When Gensler left, Cowen argued, it did not liberate crypto but opened the floodgates to what he called "the grifting age," where influencers and politicians launched memecoins and rug-pulled followers daily without fear of repercussion, draining liquidity from the industry into worthless assets. 

Bitcoin only marginally pushed higher before entering a bear market. 

Now, Cowen sees the same pattern emerging. 

"Now that people celebrate Powell's removal as chair of the Federal Reserve, it makes me think history will repeat itself once again," he wrote. 

His concern is not merely about crypto prices. It is about institutional credibility itself. 

If the Federal Reserve loses its independence and becomes, as Cowen put it, "another cabinet of the executive branch," it risks eroding the trust that underpins the entire financial system. 

"Perhaps many will look back in a few years and realize that markets were better off with Powell than without him," he said.

Kevin Warsh, who is generally seen as pro-crypto, is set to replace him as chair on May 15. 

Related: Trump reportedly discussed firing Fed chair Powell, eyes ex-Fed governor Kevin Warsh