(Agencia CMA Latam) - Brazilian central bank president Ilan Goldfajn criticized bitcoin and yawned at the virtual currency rally of 750% since last year.
"The bitcoin is a financial asset with no ballast that people buy because they believe it will appreciate. That is a typical bubble or pyramid [scheme]," Goldfajn said, adding that the bitcoin facilitates illegal payments over the internet.
"The central bank is not interested in bubbles or illicit payments," he said, stressing that it is relevant to "separate" innovations and technology companies from this type of practice facilitated by bitcoins.
He believes that the digital currency "is not something the central bank would like to encourage."
Goldfajn is not alone in his views. Last month, JPMorgan's chief executive officer Jamie Dimon also called bitcoin a fraud, while Allianz's chief economic advisor, Mohamed El-Erian, said that the cryptocurrency is set to devalue because it will not be broadly adopted since governments have no interest in replacing their currencies.
by Agencia CMA Latam
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