Philladelphia Fed Chief: Bitcoin has yet to be tested in bad times

[alyssa85]

https://www.coindesk.com/philadelphia-fed-chief-bitcoin-yet-tested/

he went so far as to contend that bitcoin has yet to be tested by a real catastrophe, but that when one happens, people will be more likely to flock to government-backed money.

Harker went on to acknowledge that while citizens have put varying degrees of trust in what he called the "sovereign states" that stand behind currencies today, other currency models might be possible. This includes, he said, ways in which trust might come from another "large player," or as in the case of bitcoin, an algorithm.

But his most pertinent critique was perhaps that cryptocurrencies have not been significantly tested enough to ensure confidence.

Despite issues such as the collapse of Mt. Gox, once the bitcoin's network's largest exchange, or the ongoing bitcoin scaling debate, Harker argued that cryptocurrency has been largely insulated from "bad times."

"Everything can work in good times," he added.

This leads to the second reason Harker said he's not concerned about cryptocurrency hamstringing the Fed's monetary influence: If – and, according to Harker, when – things go wrong, the Federal Reserve and other state agencies will likely be asked to get involved anyway.

"When things really go bad, where do Americans turn?" he asked "Well, they're going to come back to the government. That's the history of the country."

[w5pn73]

If – and, according to Harker, when – things go wrong, the Federal Reserve and other state agencies will likely be asked to get involved anyway.

I wonder what he means, does this guy have enough knowledge about Bitcoin to understand in what ways the federal reserve could actually get involved.
Sometimes I think some of these reps believe they or the gov or any entity can just take over bitcoin when they want.

[princesocapuyo]

Bitcoin has been tested in the worst time. The world economy is in the shitter and yet these people still want to print the dollar to solve their first world country problems but what about the rest of the people?! Don't worry Bitcoin is taking care of them in the worst of times.

[valentin68]

"When things really go bad, where do Americans turn?" he asked "Well, they're going to come back to the government. That's the history of the country."

[/quote]

I would require to be excused, I'm from Europe and I visited the USA 25 years ago.

Pardon me if I am wrong but the history of USA is 241 years old.  Yes indeed USA is a good example of democracy, but when a known political men of USA was saying "The most democratic country in the world", an European comentator was writing "I wonder what the 5000 years old Greek democracy would say about this"

USA is not a bad country at all, it is the learning child of the Europe and to say that in bad times poeple come back to government (because the history tells this) is too much. In Math (Statistics) one needs a certain number of data to be certain on a conclusion and 241 years is not sufficient to say this.

 I would say that bitcoin was created to bring people together and prosperity in the world. Yes it has not been tested in bad times yet, but we all want that it will
survive and endure the worst things that sometimes history reserves to good things. For all people good and for the world's prosperity.
  

[alyssa85]

If – and, according to Harker, when – things go wrong, the Federal Reserve and other state agencies will likely be asked to get involved anyway.

I wonder what he means, does this guy have enough knowledge about Bitcoin to understand in what ways the federal reserve could actually get involved.
Sometimes I think some of these reps believe they or the gov or any entity can just take over bitcoin when they want.

I think he means that in the case of severe international strife or a recession, people would turn to their govt and the dollar instead of bitcoin. (Remember that bitcoin was released AFTER the great financial crash and became mainstream in 2013 when the economy had recovered).

Whether he is right or not is another question. I think middle america does trust the dollar, but in the rest of the world, people might prefer bitcoin.