Duing recent panel discussion, Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari stated that crypto is "useless."
Kashkari is concerned about the structural impact stablecoins could have on traditional finance.
"I'm very cautious about stablecoins and other things because I think it will put pressure on the economy because banks will lend less," he stated.
Cross-border illusion
When pressed, advocates often concede that the technology fails to solve domestic financial problems, according to Kashkari.
"When I push people on how is this useful, they very quickly have to admit it's not useful in America," he said. "It's useful to send money to another market or for customers in another country."
To illustrate his skepticism, Kashkari used a personal example regarding his family's ties abroad.
"My wife was born in the Philippines. She's a U.S. citizen, but her family's in the Philippines. So, if I want to send my father-in-law money to buy groceries, they say, 'Oh my gosh, it's so costly to do it today with this gee-whiz crypto stuff, you could do it instantly.'"
However, Kashkari pointed out the perceived flaw in this transaction: the friction of converting digital assets back into usable fiat currency in the destination country.
When industry proponents counter that the end goal is for local merchants to accept the digital assets directly, Kashkari argued that this scenario ignores the reality of global economics.
"Then they say, 'No, no, no. Well, if the grocer also uses it, then he can buy.' So what they're really saying is if everybody in the world uses the same currency or the same payment platform, all these frictions go away," he explained. "But all these other countries are not going to abandon their own monetary policy."
He has regulators, policymakers, and the public to demand concrete answers from crypto advocates rather than accepting technological jargon.
"So you know, when it comes to anything about crypto or stablecoins, ask the most basic questions and don't settle for word salad nonsense answers," he warned. "Make them really explain how this thing actually works. And whenever I do that, there's just nothing there."
Kashkari's vocal skepticism is definitely not new. In 2018, he publicly labeled the cryptocurrency market a "farce."
Just last month, as reported by U.Today, he claimed that crypto had no use for everyday consumers.
Vladislav Sopov
Dan Burgin