Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said bitcoin has pretty much failed as currency as its value is unstable and it cannot be a useful way to buy things.
"It has pretty much failed thus far on ... the traditional aspects of money. It is not a store of value because it is all over the map. Nobody uses it as a medium of exchange," he told students at Regent's University in London.
But the underlying technology used by cryptocurrencies could help to verify financial transactions in a decentralized way.
Carney said policymakers cannot abolish financial crises but they can make them less likely to happen and less severe when they do occur. "Something will go wrong again even if we do not know exactly what or precisely when," he said.
"Accepting this means our best strategy is to create an anti-fragile system that can withstand potential shocks when they happen."
Talking on the topic, Reflections on Leadership in a Disruptive Age, he said not to confuse one's leadership role with oneself or become addicted to the status and privileges of power. Rather, recognize that all leadership is temporary, that one will be custodians of institutions and keepers of their flames.
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