Powell: BTC is like digital gold, not worried about the independence of the Federal Reserve

Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, mentioned BTC at the DealBook Summit of The New York Times on Wednesday (12/4), calling it digital gold but not a competitor to the US dollar. Powell is not worried about the Federal Reserve losing its independence and is confident in establishing a good working relationship with the new Treasury Secretary.

Powell: BTC is like digital gold

Federal Reserve Chairman Powell mentioned BTC at the DealBook summit of The New York Times on Wednesday (12/4), saying that people will use BTC as a speculative asset. BTC is like gold, except it is virtual, it is digitized.

People do not use Bitcoin as a formal payment method or store of value, and it is very volatile. So BTC is not a competitor to the US dollar, but it is a competitor to gold.

Not worried about the independence of the Federal Reserve

In the past few months, the issue of the independence of the Federal Reserve has been continuously raised. There are rumors that Trump may try to influence monetary policy through legislation and possibly by appointing a "shadow chairman" who could weaken Powell's authority.

However, Powell said that there are some safeguards in the congressional legislation that created the Fed that will help protect it from political influence.

On the stage of the DealBook summit, he told CNBC reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin:

Independence means we can make decisions without being overthrown, giving us the ability to make those decisions at any time for the benefit of all Americans, not for any particular party or political outcome. For the benefit of all Americans, we should achieve maximum employment and price stability and completely exclude them from politics.

Confident in starting good cooperation with the new Minister of Finance

When asked about Scott Bessent, who was nominated by Trump as Treasury Secretary, Powell expressed confidence in his ability to work well with the incoming government.

I believe that once he is appointed, I will establish a relationship with him like I do with other finance ministers.

Bernard previously proposed the idea of appointing a "shadow Federal Reserve chairman" before Powell's term ends, which would effectively weaken the influence of this Federal Reserve leader on the financial markets.

(Will the appointment of hedge fund CEO Scott Bessent as the US Secretary of the Treasury bring stability to stablecoin regulation?)

This article Powell: BTC is like digital gold, not worried about the Fed losing independence first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.