(Washington) “Every time you hear the term “cryptocurrency”, replace it in your mind with the term “magic bean””, advised an official of the American central bank (Fed), who also doubts the usefulness of establishing an official digital dollar.

“It’s possible that these magic beans will grow a giant bean and lead you to gold,” quipped Neel Kashkari, president of the Minneapolis Fed.

“With my kids […] we watch all the nursery rhymes and all these stories,” he continued, “but there is no evidence that these magic beans do any of the things that the enthusiast claims they do. ‘they do “.

Neel Kashkari, who in 2023 will have rotating voting rights within the Fed committee, the FOMC, spoke at the University of Minot (North Dakota), even as the fallen bitcoin star, Sam Bankman- Fried, has been on trial for a week in New York where he faces charges of fraud and embezzlement.

Co-founded in 2019 by Sam Bankman-Fried, his company FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. Some eight billion dollars are missing.

Neel Kashkari was also very skeptical about the usefulness of a “digital dollar”, which would be managed by the Fed, and which it has been studying for several years.