Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell dismisses claims about Bitcoin’s rivalry with the U.S. Dollar, emphasizing that BTC is the digital version of gold.
Powell stated this position yesterday at the New York Times DealBook Summit while referring to Bitcoin as a speculative asset.
Bitcoin Is a Speculative Asset Like Gold
For context, assets tagged as speculative are mainly acquired with the expectation that their price would spike over time. This is similar to how investors speculate on the value of gold.
Notably, Powell described Bitcoin as the digital version of gold, suggesting that people only use both for speculative purposes.
He opined that Bitcoin should not be considered a rival to the U.S. Dollar because it is not used as a store of value or everyday payments. However, he contended that Bitcoin is highly volatile. Hence, it should be compared to gold.
Powell Highlights Fed’s Role for Crypto
Furthermore, the Federal Reserve chair revealed that the apex bank mainly observes how cryptocurrencies interact with the banking system in general. Despite monitoring crypto, Powell clarified that the Fed does not directly regulate the market.
When asked whether he has any stake in crypto, Powell said he owns none, including Bitcoin. He noted that not owning cryptos aligns with his commitment to maintaining impartiality in the market.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin has been attracting the attention of investors, from retail to corporate. Many of these investors consider the world’s largest cryptocurrency a hedge against inflation.
However, Powell’s commentary presents a contrary perspective, describing Bitcoin as a speculative asset similar to gold rather than the dollar, which is commonly used for savings and payments.
Bitcoin Hits $100,000
The development comes amid Bitcoin’s surge to the $100,000 mark. Recall that Bitcoin failed on multiple attempts to clinch this target. However, it finally succeeded earlier today, setting a new all-time high record of $103,900.
At press time, Bitcoin is trading at $103,091, reflecting a modest increase of 6.3% in the past 24 hours and 8.06% in the last seven days. Currently, Bitcoin’s daily volume has soared 82.36% in 24 hours to $126.13 billion.
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