- Jerome Powell compares Bitcoin to gold and emphasizes its role as a speculative asset.
- Bitcoin surpasses silver in value, reaching $102,000, but is still far from gold’s $18 trillion.
During his appearance at the DealBook Summit on December 4, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell shared his views on Bitcoin [BTC]’s evolving role in the financial landscape.
Powell described BTC as becoming more like gold rather than the US dollar, highlighting its potential as a store of value rather than a traditional currency.
He said,
“People use Bitcoin as a speculative asset. It’s like gold: it’s just virtual and digital.”
Jerome Powell’s Bold Bitcoin Stand
As expected, Powell further addressed concerns about Bitcoin’s potential threat to the US dollar and the authority of the Federal Reserve.
He clarified that despite its growing recognition, BTC does not pose a challenge to the strength of the dollar as it remains highly volatile and is not widely used as a primary payment method or a stable store of value.
Powell emphasized that while Bitcoin’s role as a digital asset continues to evolve, its volatility limits its reliability in mainstream financial transactions.
He added:
“It is not a competitor for the dollar. It really is a competitor for gold.”
Are Trump’s pro-crypto plans starting to take shape?
Interestingly, POwell’s comments came as the new Trump administration was expected to push for the legalization of digital assets.
As we all know, Trump embraced cryptocurrencies during his campaign and accepted donations in BTC, Ethereum [ETH]Dogecoin [DOGE]and Solana [SOL]and promised to establish a national Bitcoin reserve.
At the July Bitcoin conference, Trump emphasized the need for the US to become a crypto superpower or risk falling behind countries like China.
However, Powell reiterated that the Federal Reserve does not see it as its role to regulate the cryptocurrency sector.
When asked about his personal stance on BTC, Powell revealed that as a government official he is “not allowed” to own it.
Bitcoin’s Recent Trends
Following Trump’s election victory last month, Bitcoin staged an impressive rally, hitting record highs and briefly surpassing $98,000 before stabilizing.
On December 4, Bitcoin was trading around $96,800, but it didn’t stop there. Most recently, it rose even further past the $100,000 mark, reaching $102,436.85 after rising 6.12% in just 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.
With a market cap of $1.92 trillion, Bitcoin has now surpassed silver, which is valued at $1.75 trillion, making it the eighth most valuable asset globally.
However, it is still a far cry from gold, which has a market value of almost $18 trillion.