Federal Reserve Discussing Bitcoin and Crypto with Market Advisors Including PTJ, Ray Dalio, & BlackRock CEO

The Federal Reserve may not be making any strides when it comes to the regulation of the cryptocurrency sector, but they sure are trying to understand it. Earlier in February, the Fed of New York had a meeting with external market advisors that didn't include an expert from the crypto sector. According to the minutes of the Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets, committee attendees included Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates, Paul T. Jones of Tudor Investment, Rick Rieder of BlackRock, and Scott Minerd of Guggenheim Partners. These investors have recently started investing in crypto with Jones, one of the biggest Bitcoin advocates who recommends investing 5% of the portfolio in BTC. William Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management, Gregory Davis of Vanguard, David M. Rubenstein of The Carlyle Group, and others were also the attendees. While talking about the rising popularity and price appreciation of cryptocurrencies earlier this year, some committee attendees saw bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as an alternative store of wealth, comparable to traditional ones such as gold, as per the meeting minutes. Other attendees saw the prices potentially exhibiting bubble-like characteristics and noted that bitcoin was not useful from a financial transaction standpoint. Some still viewed bitcoin as having stood the test of time, having weathered several financial crises, while others also saw longer-term risks from competitor cryptocurrencies and questioned whether they were vulnerable to cyberattack. When it comes to retail participation in the traditional market, the committee noted that this trend was driven by several factors, including reduced costs and lower barriers to trading, higher personal savings, and gamification of investment, among others. While they saw reduced transaction costs as a positive, they felt higher volatility was a risk that could hinder capital formation. Besides crypto and increased retail participation in equity markets, the committee also discussed economic and monetary policy outlooks and increased issuance of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs).