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12/21/22, 5:40 PM

Public and Private Currency Competition | James Bullard | St. Louis Fed

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Public and Private Currency Competition
July 19, 2019
Presentation (pdf) | Press Release
Speaking in New York, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said he views cryptocurrencies
as new entrants into the ongoing global currency competition. “Cryptocurrencies are creating
drift toward a non-uniform currency in the U.S., a state of affairs that has existed historically
but was disliked and eventually replaced,” he said.
Global currency competition is nothing new, nor is electronic delivery of value, Bullard
explained. But consumers and businesses may not like a system in which many types of
currency trade simultaneously at a variety of prices in a local market, he pointed out.
“Currencies have to be reliable and hold their value,” Bullard said. “This is probably why
government backing has been important historically, combined with a stable monetary policy
that promotes stability of the currency.”
The problem of how to stabilize currency value is not mitigated by commodity-backed money,
cryptocurrency or fixed exchange rates, Bullard noted. “One of the main lessons of monetary
theory is that the credibility of future issuance policy is a key aspect to the value of a currency,”
he said.

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12/21/22, 5:40 PM

Public and Private Currency Competition | James Bullard | St. Louis Fed

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