Inside the Fed’s latest numbers
According to the Fed’s H.6 Money Stock Announcement released yesterday, May’s seasonally adjusted M2 was $23,052.3 billion, up from $22,804.5 billion in April (an increase of $247.8 billion in one month). M2 is the most commonly cited measure of money in the United States, covering cash, checking accounts, savings accounts, and retail money market funds.
The metric has risen every month this year, up from $22.4293 trillion in January, and expanded by about $623 billion in four months. In terms of size, this four-month increase alone approaches the annual economic output of a medium-sized European country.
This milestone has sharpened the debate over what this growth means, given that the Mises Institute, an Austrian economic think tank and long-time critic of the Fed, recently wrote that central banks “pushing ahead with new QE” will drive money supply growth to multi-year highs in 2026. Quantitative easing (QE) is the practice of expanding the Fed’s balance sheet by purchasing securities.
The Fed itself released the numbers without comment, and mainstream economists note that money supply typically increases with the economy. M2 experienced its steepest decline since the Great Depression, before resuming growth in 2022-2023. Therefore, some of the current rally represents a return to trend rather than pure stimulus. But the pace of its rise has hard money advocates wary.
The trade of derogation gets new ammunition.
for Bitcoin To investors, the $23 trillion printout is more a thesis than a data point. cryptocurrencyIts supply is limited to 21 million coins, and its most durable investment story (protection against currency decline) is strengthened every time the money stock sets a record. Many analysts argue that BitcoinMulti-year cycles of have historically been tracked on a global scale. liquidity However, historical correlation does not provide a guarantee of repeatability.
The central bank itself is acting like a hedge against falling land prices. world gold The council report said public bodies added 41 tonnes of pure gold in May, extending annual purchases of around 1,000 tonnes for the fourth year in a row, with a record 45% of reserve managers planning to buy more.
DeVere Group CEO Nigel Green argued that the resulting rally in gold raised fresh doubts about the Federal Reserve’s next action, and told investors the metal’s strength showed that confidence in the stability of fiat currencies was fading. Additionally, the infrastructure around hard assets has expanded in tandem, with Coinbase now offering 24/7 gold and silver futures trading in the US, a product decision that reflects how the demand for inflation hedging has shifted to crypto-native platforms.
The next H.6 release will cover June and is expected to be released in late July, indicating whether the monthly increase streak will extend to six. Weak U.S. labor data has strengthened expectations for policy easing in the fall, and money growth is likely to accelerate further, and the market is also keeping an eye on the Fed’s policy direction.
