Alan Greenspan, former Fed chair, dies at 100

Alan Greenspan, who led the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, died at age 100, the central bank announced Monday.

Greenspan served as the Fed’s 13th chairman. His tenure covered the 1987 stock market crash, the 1990s expansion, the Asian financial crisis and the dot-com bust. The Fed credited his emphasis on rigorous analysis and disciplined policymaking with strengthening public confidence in the institution and added that his contributions “left a lasting mark on this institution, on the broader field of economics, and on the country.”

He served under four presidents and oversaw interest-rate policy through multiple shocks to global markets. The Fed noted that “Chairman Greenspan’s legacy endures at the Federal Reserve-in those he mentored directly, in the economists and public servants he inspired, and in the frameworks and practices he helped shape.”

After leaving the Fed, Greenspan continued to speak publicly on economic and financial topics, including banking regulation and digital assets. He questioned bitcoin’s intrinsic value and compared it to the Continental currency issued during the American Revolution, which he described as having become worthless.

Following the 2023 collapse of exchange FTX, Greenspan commented: “The collapse of FTX was not a result of lax risk management, inadequate accounting procedures, or some feature inherent to crypto-it was purely fraud.” He also described the wider crypto market as “too dependent on the ‘greater fool theory’ to be a desirable investment.”

Kevin Warsh became Fed chair on May 22. He has urged policymakers to study digital currencies and has argued they can provide useful signals about confidence in fiat money and the broader financial system. Warsh’s term as chair runs through May 21, 2030, and his appointment to the Board of Governors extends through Jan. 31, 2040.

The Fed highlighted Greenspan’s long influence on monetary policy and on the people he mentored. He remained active in public debates on economic policy after leaving office.