Will Fed Rate Cuts & AI Send Bitcoin Flying? | Jordi Visser
🎯 Summary
Podcast Episode Summary: Will Fed Rate Cuts & AI Send Bitcoin Flying? | Jordi Visser
This 47-minute episode of the Pomp Podcast, featuring Jordi Visser, dives deep into the confluence of macroeconomic policy (Fed actions, inflation data), technological acceleration (AI), and the resulting impact on asset prices, particularly Bitcoin and global equities.
1. Focus Area
The discussion centers on Macroeconomics and Crypto/Traditional Finance Intersections. Key themes include the Federal Reserve’s interest rate trajectory (specifically potential September cuts), the reliability of inflation data (CPI/PPI), the massive productivity impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and how these factors are justifying current high global asset valuations, especially for Bitcoin.
2. Key Technical Insights
- AI Adoption Phases & Measurement: AI is moving from the infrastructure stage into the adoption phase, where productivity gains (especially in profit margins) are not being accurately captured by traditional metrics like GDP or payroll data.
- The “Digital Worker Economy”: The rise of AI agents means economic activity and “job growth” are occurring in a digital sphere that traditional economic data (like unemployment reports) completely misses, leading to inaccurate readings of economic health.
- Bitcoin Volatility Dynamics: Recent sharp moves in Bitcoin are attributed to short-term trading overreactions (algos and retail) reacting to macro news, though overall realized volatility is declining, suggesting stabilization despite news shocks.
3. Market/Investment Angle
- Reflationary Boom Justification: Global markets (DAX, FTSE, NIKKEI, S&P 500) are rising because the market is pricing in a reflationary boom driven by AI productivity and expected central bank easing, rather than a traditional inflationary environment.
- Earnings as the True Indicator: Despite bearish soft data (consumer confidence, uncertainty), corporate earnings growth (11% YoY for S&P 500) is proving to be the most reliable metric, suggesting traditional economic models are failing to account for AI’s impact.
- Fed Cuts as a Tailwind: If the Fed cuts rates in September (which Visser believes is highly likely, driven by White House signaling and weakening labor data), it will confirm the beginning of a cutting cycle, which is massively bullish for assets like Bitcoin and gold, as the implied inflation target is effectively being raised to 3%+.
4. Notable Companies/People
- Jordi Visser & Anthony Pompliano (Pomp): Hosts/Guests driving the core analysis on macro and crypto strategy.
- Scott Besson: Mentioned for his commentary suggesting the Fed should adopt a forward-looking, non-academic mindset similar to Alan Greenspan, focusing on future AI impacts rather than lagging data.
- Janet Yellen (Treasury Secretary): Her contradictory comments regarding buying Bitcoin highlighted the sensitivity and short-term trading nature of the crypto market.
- Hyperscalers: These companies are central to the AI trade, benefiting from infrastructure spending and subsequent cloud revenue as the adoption phase accelerates.
- Figure: Mentioned in the sponsor segment as a major non-bank mortgage lender leveraging crypto assets (BTC/ETH) for lending with improved rates and decentralized custody solutions.
5. Regulatory/Policy Discussion
- Implied Policy Shift: The discussion suggests the White House is signaling a desire for lower rates and a hotter economy, effectively raising the informal inflation target to 3%+.
- UBI and Wealth Concentration: AI-driven productivity gains are concentrating wealth in asset owners, creating a de facto form of UBI through rising asset values and government transfer payments, which may necessitate future policy rebalancing (e.g., addressing housing affordability).
- Long-Term Rates Concern: While the Fed might cut short-term rates, the market may keep long-term rates elevated, which requires government intervention (like yield curve control or tax breaks) to ease borrowing costs for consumers.
6. Future Implications
The conversation suggests the industry is heading toward a period where traditional economic data becomes increasingly unreliable for forecasting asset performance. Investors must pivot to focus on earnings growth driven by technological adoption (AI) and anticipate central banks accommodating a higher baseline inflation rate. Bitcoin is positioned to benefit significantly from this reflationary environment and potential monetary easing.
7. Target Audience
Investment Professionals, Macro Strategists, and Sophisticated Crypto Investors. The discussion requires a strong understanding of Fed policy mechanics, inflation metrics, and the structural shift driven by AI adoption.
🏢 Companies Mentioned
💬 Key Insights
"With a minimum lock-up of just one day, when the time lock ends, you get your Bitcoin back untouched. Still your keys, still your coins. Now you're yielded."
"I've referenced online this idea of a digital upgrade: put Bitcoin on your balance sheet and embrace AI. The companies that do that will have a significant advantage in the future over the companies that don't."
"FSD has reached a point where robotaxis next year there will be millions of them on the road by the end of 2026. And the reason is because we have finally... We've reached a point in AI in particular, FSD, where they're talking about we are at the inflection point where everything related to machines and intelligence in machines starts to accelerate, and transportation is the first place that this will start to go."
"The truck had nowhere for a human to sit. It was a fully autonomous thing and it was driving down the road in China... the form factor of the truck outside of the cab looked just like any other... But the cab had been completely deleted."
"We need a new set of economic data that is going to account for not only the human-driven economy, but also the digital-driven economy because as an investor, if you are looking at only the human data... you are missing this story."
"The job growth has been explosive if you include the digital employees. So you get into this weird thing of like, no, no, human job growth is not exploding higher, but job growth across corporations is exploding higher."