DIGITAL CURRENCY NEWS
"While these digital currencies may not pose major concerns at their current levels of use, more serious financial stability issues may result if they achieve wide-scale usage," Quarles said, according to prepared remarks from a speech he is delivering in Washington.Quarles said that if digital currencies can't be exchanged at a stable rate for dollars during difficult times, "the resulting price risk and potential liquidity and credit risk pose a large challenge for the system."Bitcoin's price crossed $11,000 Wednesday before retreating Thursday for a drop that exceeded 5 percent at one point.Quarles mentioned bitcoin specifically once in the speech, keeping his remarks to the broader world of digital currencies.
The group operates through a technology called blockchain that allows users to exchange the currency across cyber channels. The technology has been deemed important to the banking industry by CEOs like JPMorgan Chase's
Jamie Dimon
, who nonetheless has been critical of bitcoin and its competitors.
"I believe the financial industry is increasingly recognizing that we should separate the concept of digital currencies from the innovative new technologies that they have employed to transfer assets," Quarles said.
In a speech Wednesday, New York Fed President
William Dudley said the central bank has begun thinking about its own digital currency
, though he added that it's premature now to make any moves.
Quarles elaborated on the issue, saying there have been suggestions that
the Fed
