[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England (BOE), has once again expressed a negative view on cryptocurrencies.
On the 13th (local time) at an event hosted by the BOE, Governor Bailey said, "The fact that you can hear about Bitcoin prices everywhere is a warning sign." He also warned of a stock price bubble related to cryptocurrencies, saying, "In the U.S., the stock prices of companies whose actual operations no one knows are suddenly soaring."
Governor Bailey bluntly stated, "People are looking for investment opportunities, and if they want Bitcoin, they can buy Bitcoin. But Bitcoin has no intrinsic value."
On the same day that Governor Bailey warned about the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin prices plummeted. This was because Elon Musk, CEO of the U.S. electric vehicle company Tesla Motors, suddenly declared that he would no longer accept Bitcoin payments. Musk had previously announced in February that he invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and declared that Tesla cars could be purchased with Bitcoin, which had driven up Bitcoin prices. However, on this day, he abruptly announced that Tesla would stop accepting Bitcoin payments due to the environmental harm caused by Bitcoin mining, which consumes large amounts of electricity using computers. After Musk announced this policy on Twitter, Bitcoin prices dropped more than 15% at once.
Governor Bailey has recently continued to express negative views on Bitcoin. At a press conference on the 6th, he said, "Cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value, and those who invest in cryptocurrencies must be prepared to lose all their investment."
At that time, Governor Bailey emphasized, "People can assign value to cryptocurrencies because they can have extrinsic value. However, they have no fundamental intrinsic value." Perhaps thinking his remarks were somewhat ambiguous, he added, "Let me make it clear once again," and said, "Only invest in cryptocurrencies if you are prepared to lose all your investment."
Governor Bailey also warned in 2017, when he was the head of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), "If you want to invest in Bitcoin, be prepared to lose all your investment."
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