Bitcoin

There ought to be a hard look at the policy of anonymous currencies, because the ability to track information of money flowing is one we use seriously against terrorism and as [a tool] against improper, illegal behavior.

“People get excited from big price movements, and Wall Street accommodates … You can’t value Bitcoin because it’s not a value-producing asset.” It's a “real bubble.”

I believe there is still a nontrivial chance Bitcoin goes to zero, but each day it does not, that chance declines as more venture capital flows into the Bitcoin ecosystem and more people become familiar with Bitcoin and buy it.

I don’t have an investment in it, but I'm not willing to pooh-pooh it, and that’s why I say I'm open to it.

From what we can identify, the only reason today to buy or sell Bitcoin is to make money, which is the very definition of speculation and the very definition of a bubble.

Bitcoin today is, in my view, very clearly in a bubble.

“I don’t see why there is all this hostility to it.” Bitcoin is “not much different than gold” because it doesn’t have liability attached to it, by definition, like a security.

In terms of Bitcoin, I would be pretty cautionary about it. I think that it’s not a stable store of value ... I would be, at this point, pretty skeptical of Bitcoin. I think it’s really more of a speculative activity.

Bitcoin is successful only because of its potential for circumvention, lack of oversight, so it seems to me it ought to be outlawed. It doesn’t serve any socially useful function.

We will discover that behind this Bitcoin scam, some funds were channeled maybe to finance terrorism and at that point, we will wake up and realize that this is not appropriate.

Digital currency is “disruptive, it has a lot of potential but that doesn’t tell us a lot about what these actual instruments are worth ... Even the insiders in that industry don’t really know where it’s going and it’s going to take some time. And for the average investor, you know, buyer beware because you need to do your homework and it’s tough; there’s a very high learning curve to figure out exactly what this all means.”

I’m not a Bitcoin believer. My kids think I’m really stupid ... they could have made a lot of money and I didn’t allow them to invest in it ... It’s fascinating but it will make central banks lose control, and they are not going to let this happen. At some point in time, maybe at $20,000, $25,000, $30,000, somebody will say ‘Stop!’

“It is not a stable store of value, and it doesn't constitute legal tender,” she said during a press conference in Washington. “It is a highly speculative asset, and the Fed doesn’t really play any regulatory role with respect to Bitcoin other than assuring that banking organizations that we do supervise are attentive that they’re appropriately managing any interactions they have with participants in that market.”

“Both know all about speed, crashes, risk management, and holding on. Which is maybe why the US Luge Team and Bitcoin are made for each other,” the team said on its website. “Lugers are betting big that bitcoin can help them get on the podium in the next few Olympic Games” and “are happily taking contributions of the cryptocurrency.”

Having no clear fundamental value and largely unregulated markets, coupled with a storyline conducive to delusions of grandeur, makes this more than anything we can find in the history books the very essence of a bubble.