Crypto Isn’t Really An Asset Like Gold, Says SF Fed Chief

Crypto should be regarded as its own asset class rather than compared to gold, according to San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly. Brian Sozzi reported, that Daly emphasized the need to clearly define crypto’s role, noting that it cannot replace money.

Daly’s view contrasts slightly with that of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who recently energized the crypto community with his comments on bitcoin.

“I see crypto as a complicated thing, and the service we need to do for everyone is to really unpack what we mean and call it what it is once we’ve done that,” Daly said during Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid podcast.

“It can be a currency. It could be a medium of exchange. ... It could be a stock—an asset to hold value or sometimes lose value. We just have to define those terms.”

“So I don’t think of it as like gold,” Daly added. “It has properties like gold sometimes, but I don’t think of it like that.”

Daly’s view contrasts slightly with that of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who recently energized the crypto community with his comments on bitcoin. “People use bitcoin as a speculative asset,” Powell said at the New York Times DealBook conference.

“It’s just like gold, only it’s virtual, it’s digital. People are not using it as a form of payment or as a store of value. It’s highly volatile. It’s not a competitor for the dollar; it’s really a competitor for gold.”