Crypto Would Get a Boost If Fed Turns Less Hawkish

• If the Fed suddenly backed off from raising rates, that “would be beneficial for crypto,” Sam Bankman-Fried said.
• The 29-year-old billionaire also said he sees NFTs as an opportunity for venture capital. 
• “There’s not nearly enough work being done in innovative NFT applications, and probably too much being done on existing NFT projects,” he said.

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said Thursday that a more dovish central bank could boost token prices and highlighted potential in NFT investing as his crypto exchange also takes on a venture capital role.

In a wide-ranging Thursday interview with the Economic Club of New York, the 29-year-old crypto billionaire noted monetary supply and the Fed’s signals on hiking rates to tame inflation have been moving markets lately, with “a tight coupling between crypto and stocks” also evident.

So if the Fed suddenly backed off from raising rates, that “would be beneficial for crypto,” Bankman-Fried said.

Since the start of January, there’s been a broad crypto sell-off as investors anticipate the Fed initiating multiple rate hikes this year. Cryptocurrencies are likely to plunge even further as the Fed tightens and brings an era of “crazy” speculation to an end, a senior JPMorgan strategist told Insider recently.

Bankman-Fried said previously that digital assets might be in an “autumn” rather than a “winter,” as there’s been a recent slowdown but plenty of excitement remains in the space. He sees the Fed as the key driver of digital asset markets for the coming months. 

Separately, he also said Thursday that he sees NFTs as an opportunity for venture capital. Last month, FTX launched a $2 billion VC fund focused on investing in companies that will build up the digital asset ecosystem.

When asked whether parts of the VC sector are oversaturated, Bankman-Fried said some areas don’t have much room to grow but are getting too much capital.

“There’s not nearly enough work being done in innovative NFT applications, and probably too much being done on existing NFT projects,” he added. “I would love to see that shift a little bit toward where I think really cool future applications lie.”