- Jerome Powell likens Bitcoin to gold, emphasizing its position as a speculative asset.
- Bitcoin surpasses silver in worth, reaching $102K, however nonetheless removed from gold’s $18 trillion.
Throughout his appearance on the DealBook Summit on the 4th of December, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell shared his view on Bitcoin [BTC]‘s evolving position within the monetary panorama.
Powell described BTC as more and more resembling gold quite than the U.S. greenback, emphasizing its potential as a retailer of worth quite than a standard foreign money.
He stated,
“Folks use Bitcoin as a speculative asset. It’s like gold—it’s simply digital and digital.”
Jerome Powell’s daring Bitcoin stance
As anticipated, Powell additional addressed issues relating to Bitcoin’s potential risk to the U.S. greenback and the Federal Reserve’s authority.
He clarified that regardless of its rising recognition, BTC doesn’t pose a problem to the power of the greenback, because it stays extremely unstable and isn’t broadly used as a main fee technique or a secure retailer of worth.
Powell emphasised that whereas Bitcoin’s position as a digital asset continues to evolve, its volatility limits its reliability in mainstream monetary transactions.
He added,
“It’s not a competitor for the greenback. It’s actually a competitor for gold.”
Are Trump’s pro-crypto plans beginning to take form?
Curiously, Powell’s feedback got here because the incoming Trump administration is predicted to push for the legalization of digital property.
As everyone knows, throughout his marketing campaign, Trump embraced cryptocurrencies, accepting donations in BTC, Ethereum [ETH], Dogecoin [DOGE], and Solana [SOL], and pledging to determine a nationwide Bitcoin reserve.
On the July Bitcoin convention, Trump emphasised the necessity for the U.S. to develop into a crypto superpower, or danger falling behind nations like China.
Nevertheless, Powell reiterated that the Federal Reserve doesn’t see it as its position to manage the cryptocurrency sector.
When requested about his private stance on BTC, Powell revealed that, as a authorities official, “he’s not allowed” to personal it.
Bitcoin’s latest developments
Following Trump’s election win final month, Bitcoin noticed a powerful rally, hitting file highs and briefly surpassing $98,000 earlier than stabilizing.
As of the 4th of December, Bitcoin was buying and selling round $96,800, but it surely didn’t cease there—only in the near past, it surged previous the $100K mark, reaching $102,436.85 after a 6.12% enhance in simply 24 hours, in keeping with CoinMarketCap.
With a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, Bitcoin has now surpassed silver, which is valued at $1.75 trillion, making it the eighth most precious asset globally.
Nevertheless, it nonetheless remains a good distance from gold, which holds a market worth of practically $18 trillion.