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[이데일리 김보겸 기자] The price of bitcoin, a virtual asset leader, fell from the 59,000 dollar level to the 53,000 dollar level on the 23rd. Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve System (Fed), dismissed that bitcoin will never replace the dollar.
Powell “I don’t know gold, but I can’t replace the dollar”
According to CoinMarketCap, which averages the prices of major exchanges traded in dollars, the price of bitcoin is trading at around $53,556 as of 4 pm on the 23rd of Korea time. This is more than 7% lower than 24 hours ago. On the domestic exchange Upbit, bitcoins are traded at around 6339 million won per piece. The price of bitcoin, which had remained around 67 million won for a while, fell by more than 3 million won after Powell’s remarks.
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Powell’s remarks that “Bitcoin is a speculative asset” seem to have affected the price decline. On the 22nd (local time) at a video forum hosted by the International Settlement Bank (BIS), he said, “Virtual assets including bitcoin are not a useful value storage tool because they are too volatile.” It’s close to an asset,” he said.
It also emphasized the need to regulate virtual assets. Chairman Powell said that the financial authorities need to regulate its own virtual assets promoted by private companies such as Facebook. “Even virtual assets promoted by individual companies cannot replace a sound monetary system controlled by a central bank,” he said.
Chairman Powell said the Fed is also working on digital currency. This is because the Fed is obligated to weigh the profits and losses of the CBDC (central bank’s digital currency), given the dollar’s status as the key currency. He explained that the Fed’s own Institute of Technology, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are working on virtual assets.
However, it drew a line that it would not introduce digital currency unless the Congress approves it.
Even in a situation where China is accelerating the introduction of digital currency, Chairman Powell was relaxed. “Virtual assets can be exploited for hacking, money laundering, and terrorism, and they could become out of control of the central bank,” he argued. “There is no need to shake the current dollar-centered key currency system.”
“Don’t expect the Fed to accept bitcoin anytime soon,” said Fortune, a US economic magazine, and said that Chairman Powell dismissed the recent surge in virtual asset prices.
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Bobby Lee “A bull market in years… $300,000 goes”
Meanwhile, the forecast that the price of bitcoin will rise further came out on the same day. In an interview with CNBC, Bobby Lee, co-founder of China’s virtual asset exchange BTCC, predicted that “in the historical trend, bitcoins will soar to $300,000 each.” It is observed that the highest bitcoin price expected by experts so far will be two or three times higher than $100,000 to $140,000.
Founder Lee said, “This year will be a bull market that comes once every three to four years in the virtual market. However, he warned that bitcoin could hit $100,000 this summer and $300,000 at the end of the year and then plummet 90% as a bubble burst.
Earlier in November of last year, Citibank also predicted that the price of bitcoin would exceed $300,000 each by the end of 2021. Earlier this year, JPMorgan also saw that Bitcoin has the potential to rise to $146,000. In 2017, JP Morgan’s CEO, Jamie Dyman, criticized bitcoin as a “scam to deceive good people,” but soon reversed his position.
However, many government authorities, including the United States, are skeptical of virtual assets. On the 2nd, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, “Bitcoin is too inefficient and speculative to carry out transactions,” suggesting the possibility of regulation.