Cryptocurrencies
The Fed Probably Just Got a Piece of Those Bitcoin Junk Bonds
- Its pandemic response led to owning an ETF that bought them
- Ironic development given central bankers’ dim view of crypto
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While the Federal Reserve’s top brass has cast a skeptical eye on cryptocurrencies, the central bank may be a surprisingly early adopter of the first Bitcoin-linked junk bond.
After the pandemic froze credit markets last year, the Fed bought bond exchange-traded funds to get things moving again. That made it the fourth-biggest owner, as of late March, of the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF.