Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive officer of the investment banking giant Goldman Sachs, said he is not into cryptocurrencies and was at a loss to explain why they should be successful as an asset class.
In an interview at the Economic Club of New York, Blankfein said, "But if it [cryptocurrency] did work, I will be able to explain in hindsight why it did."
He said cryptocurrencies were not "a systemic issue" for now and hence he was "not really" worried about it.
"You have to look at things from both sides," Blankfein said, pointing out that his initial thinking on cellphones was that they will not work.
If the world could have a fiat currency, which is just a promise by the government in a piece of paper, "Why couldn't you have a consensus currency?" Blankfein asked.
"It's not for me, I don't do it, I own no Bitcoin...Goldman Sachs as far as I know...has no Bitcoin," the banker said.
"But if it does work out, I could give you the historical pathway that could have happened," he said.
Blankfein said it was simply arrogant to say cryptocurrencies cannot be successful, just because they were uncomfortable and unfamiliar.
Early May, the New York Times had reported that Goldman Sachs was planning to establish Bitcoin trading operation under the bank's executive Rana Yared.
The bank also made its first crypto-specific appointment recently by roping in Justin Schmidt, a former cryptocurrency trader, as its head of digital assets.
Goldman Sachs is also a leading investor in the crypto startup, Circle, which is reportedly seeking a federal banking license and plans to register as a brokerage with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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