Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari has once again taken aim at Bitcoin by claiming that the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has “little” practical use
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During his Wednesday appearance at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference 2024, he opined that Bitcoin is not an investment or a currency.
Of course, Kashkari has been a longtime critic of the largest cryptocurrency and the broader industry. Earlier this year, he questioned Bitcoin’s utility since it failed to act as an inflation hedge.
In November 2022, he said that the entire notion of crypto was “nonsense” following the implosion of the FTX exchange.
In 2021, the Fed president stated that the industry was mostly “fraud, hype, and noise.” During the same year, he jokingly compared Bitcoin to Beanie Babies.
Rates should remain steady
Kashkari has also stated that Federal Reserve rates should remain steady for now.
As reported by U.Today, the price of Bitcoin managed to top the $65,000 level earlier today for the first time since early May after encouraging US inflation data.
The Fed is now expected to cut rates at least two times this year. However, according to Kashkari, the central bank needs more to figure out where inflation is headed.
Before the most recent CPI reading, he did not even rule out another rate hike.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has stressed the need for patience when dealing with inflation. Powell believes that the Fed’s current policy is efficient enough.