FED Chairman Jerome Powell Compares Bitcoin to Gold

Just recently, during his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, FED Chairman Jerome Powell looked into the Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency, compared Bitcoin to Gold, saying that it’s an alternative to the asset.

Janis Rijnieks By Janis Rijnieks Updated 3 mins read
FED Chairman Jerome Powell Compares Bitcoin to Gold
Photo: Shutterstock

Recently in a hearing with the Senate Banking Committee, Jerome Powell was talking about Facebook’s recent cryptocurrency project Libra and also commented on the number one cryptocurrency – Bitcoin. While saying that Libra raises a lot of regulatory questions and concerns such as money laundering, consumer protection, and financial stability, of course, he also mentioned that if Facebook’s Libra goes live, it becomes “essentially, immediately systemically important.”

However, he also commented on Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency asset with more than $200 billion in market cap.

“Almost no one uses Bitcoin for payments, they use it more as an alternative to gold. It’s a speculative store of value,” he explained.

https://twitter.com/barrysilbert/status/1149416924771704832

“I don’t think that the project can go forward … without there being broad satisfaction with the way the company has addressed money laundering, all of those things. Libra raises many serious concerns regarding privacy, money laundering, consumer protection, and financial stability. These are concerns that should be thoroughly and publicly addressed.”

Also, the president of the United States Of America, Donald Trump just recently did the Bitcoin tweet what a lot of crypto industry leaders were calling for.

“I don’t think that the project can go forward … without there being broad satisfaction with the way the company has addressed money laundering, all of those things. Libra raises many serious concerns regarding privacy, money laundering, consumer protection, and financial stability. These are concerns that should be thoroughly and publicly addressed.”

Also, the president of the United States Of America, Donald Trump just recently did the Bitcoin tweet what a lot of crypto industry leaders were calling for.

Recently a lot of U.S. officials are starting to talk about cryptocurrencies as such and the technology behind them. This video has exploded on Twitter, and some interpret this as if Jerome Powell would be saying “Drop Gold, Buy Bitcoin”.

https://twitter.com/Simon23105395/status/1149425251916365824

In the video, Jerome Powell says that “we really haven’t seen widespread adoption [in cryptocurrencies]”. Mentioning Bitcoin as a “good example”. He defines it as “a speculative store of value”, but the interesting part is that he addressed this terminology also to gold, saying that Bitcoin is a speculative Store of Value, “like Gold”. So the short outcome our of his speech would be that in Jerome Powell’s mind, Bitcoin is basically the same as Gold.

However, he clarifies that people have been talking about this since cryptocurrencies emerged, but “we haven’t seen it”, possibly referring to widespread adoption. Further, he goes on saying that “but that’s not the say we won’t see it. And if we do see it, you could see a return to an era in the United States when we had many different currencies, the so-called national banking era.”

Powell Says That Libra “Cannot Go Forward”

We recently reported that U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that Facebook‘s plan to build a digital currency Libra “cannot go forward” until serious concerns were addressed. He said:

“I don’t think that the project can go forward … without there being broad satisfaction with the way the company has addressed money laundering, all of those things. Libra raises many serious concerns regarding privacy, money laundering, consumer protection, and financial stability. These are concerns that should be thoroughly and publicly addressed.”

Also, the president of the United States Of America, Donald Trump just recently did the Bitcoin tweet what a lot of crypto industry leaders were calling for.

Janis Rijnieks

Janis is a cryptocurrency enthusiast and a bitcoin adherent. He has a background in video production, but for the past couple of years, he is a full-time crypto researcher and writer. He has a good understanding of multiple cryptocurrencies and loves to cover daily news. He considers himself a semi-bitcoin maximalist but always is open to any kind of new ideas that could be put on the blockchain. In his free time, he likes skateboarding and cars.

Janis Rijnieks on LinkedIn