Bitcoin Jumps Past $10,300 as Fed Chairman Confirms Working on Digital Currency

13. Feb 2020 Posted by Akolkar B on News

On Wednesday, February 12, the Bitcoin price went soaring to above $10,300 levels after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke in favor of cryptocurrencies and said that the U.S. is currently working on similar projects.

With this price surge, Bitcoin has extended its 2020 gains further to above 45%. At press time, Bitcoin is trading at a price of $10,112 with a market cap of $184 billion.

Apart from Bitcoin, Sanders’ comments on cryptocurrencies boosted the overall crypto market which added nearly $20 billion to the overall cryptocurrency market cap. The Federal Reserve chairman’s views came in response to the questions asked by Rep. Bill Foster, a Democrat from Illinois, about the government’s take on cryptocurrencies.

To this Powell said that cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology are really very important. He further added that the Fed is working on a number of project for digital currencies.

Besides, he assured that the U.S. is taking enough measures to counter the rising competition from global economies like China. The Asian economic giant has already started working aggressively on Digital Yuan and reports suggest that the digital currency shall be majorly used for China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Commenting on this Powell said: "Every major central bank is currently taking a deep look at that. We feel that's our obligation, technology has now made that possible. I think it's very much incumbent on us and other central banks to understand the costs and benefits and tradeoffs associated with a possible digital currency”.

Powell also credited Facebook for announcing its Libra cryptocurrency project last year in June 2019. He said that Facebook’s push to crypto use has really got the regulators and government thinking to work on it.

"Frankly, Libra really lit a fire," Powell said, "and was a bit of a wakeup call that this is coming fast and could come in a way that is quite widespread and systemically important—fairly quickly if you use one of these big tech networks like Libra did.”

However, Facebook is yet to get a green signal from the SEC to launch its Libra cryptocurrency in the market. Besides, to avoid regulatory backlash, event other financial giants like Visa and MasterCard who were once part of the Libra Association, have decided to part ways with this project.