Global Inflation Dashboard

M2 is a measure of the money supply that includes cash, checking deposits, savings deposits, money market securities, and other near-money assets. It's a broader measure than M1 (which only counts physical currency and demand deposits). When M2 grows rapidly, it typically signals that more money is being created, which can lead to inflation as more dollars chase the same amount of goods.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the average change in prices paid by urban consumers for a basket of goods and services over time. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks prices for approximately 80,000 items monthly. The inflation rate is calculated as the year-over-year percentage change in the CPI. A CPI of 300 means prices are 3x higher than the 1982-84 baseline.

The Federal Funds Rate is the interest rate at which banks lend money to each other overnight. It's set by the Federal Reserve and serves as a benchmark for all other interest rates in the economy. When the Fed raises rates, borrowing becomes more expensive, which tends to slow spending and reduce inflation. When it cuts rates, borrowing becomes cheaper, stimulating economic activity.

Inflation erodes purchasing power — the amount of goods and services your money can buy. If inflation is 3% per year, $100 today will only buy $97 worth of goods next year. Over decades, the effect compounds dramatically. For example, $1,000 in 2000 has roughly the same purchasing power as about $1,800 today, meaning the dollar lost nearly 45% of its value in just over two decades.

Crypto investors track M2 and inflation because Bitcoin was designed as a hedge against monetary debasement. When central banks expand the money supply rapidly (increasing M2), the value of each existing dollar decreases. Bitcoin's fixed supply of 21 million coins makes it immune to this type of debasement. Historically, periods of rapid M2 expansion have correlated with Bitcoin price increases.

US economic data (M2, CPI, Fed Funds Rate) comes from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) API maintained by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Global inflation rates come from the World Bank's development indicators API. Both are authoritative, freely available data sources widely used by economists, researchers, and financial institutions.