Donald Trump’s recent pick for the Federal Reserve board, Stephen Miran, has revived an often-forgotten clause in the Fed’s charter, a “third mandate” to maintain moderate long-term interest rates.
This move has ignited speculation about potential yield curve control and aggressive monetary tools.
What is the third mandate?
Traditionally, the Fed’s dual mandate focuses on price stability and maximum employment. Stephen Miran referenced the third mandate, included in the original Federal Reserve Act, which adds “moderate long-term interest rates” as an explicit objective.
Mandate could be considered as a legal justification for tools like yield curve control or expanded quantitative easing. Moreover, in recent times, the “third mandate” was considered more of a natural byproduct of managing inflation.
Yield curve control (YCC) is a monetary policy tool where a central bank commits to buying government bonds in order to cap long-term interest rates at a targeted level.
With U.S. national debt approaching $37.5 trillion, the administration may lean on yield curve control (YCC), bond buybacks, or broader quantitative easing (QE) to suppress long-term rates.
Such measures could reduce government borrowing costs and help lower mortgage rates, but also risk devaluing the U.S. dollar.
Crypto and markets weigh in
Christian Pusateri, founder of Mind Network, called the revived mandate “financial repression by another name,” noting that tighter control of money markets may push capital into assets like Bitcoin, viewed as hedges against monetary instability.
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, on his X, has also expressed optimism about the potential of this move, in regard to Crypto.
With Fed board member Miran now confirmed, the MSM is preparing the world for the Fed's "third mandate" which is essentially yield curve control. LFG!
— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) September 16, 2025
YCC -> $BTC = $1m pic.twitter.com/jlPQZJ0cHm
Some history
While the idea of reviving the Fed’s “third mandate” may sound novel, the U.S. has in fact pursued yield curve control before. During World War II, the Federal Reserve capped long-term Treasury yields at 2.5% to help finance wartime spending, a policy that ultimately fueled postwar inflation once controls were lifted.
A more recent example comes from Japan. Since 2016, the Bank of Japan has used YCC to suppress long-term yields and stimulate lending. The results have been mixed: while borrowing costs stayed low, the policy weighed on the yen and sparked concerns about market distortions, eventually abandoning it in 2024.
For crypto investors, that narrative plays directly into Bitcoin’s positioning as “digital gold”, a hedge against monetary debasement.
Not forgetting real Gold itself in this context.
Market Signals
Stephen Miran’s nomination was fast-tracked by President Trump, and he has since been confirmed to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. This elevates the possibility that the third mandate may move from theory to something more actionable.
Bond yields across maturities have already shown signs of compression, and analysts are watching for hints from upcoming Fed meetings and communications about how aggressively the new policy framework might be pursued.
Gunel Ismayilova
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