Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, offered a blunt view of digital assets, arguing that cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and stable coins, have not yet proven their real usefulness.
Speaking on Thursday at the 2026 Midwest Economic Outlook Summit in Fargo, North Dakota, he compared the everyday usefulness of artificial intelligence (AI) tools with cryptocurrencies.
“Crypto has been around for over a decade and is completely useless,” he said, while AI “has real long-term potential for the US economy.”
After asking the audience who had used AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini last week, Kashkari asked a second question: “raise your hand if you’ve bought or sold anything with bitcoin.”
When the discussion turned to payments and stablecoins, Kashkari said he was not convinced the technology was improving on existing financial rails. “I hear these words and I like, it’s just, it’s like a buzzword salad,” he said. “What can I do with stablecoin that I can’t do with Venmo today?”
Emphasizing the use of stablecoins for cheaper and faster cross-border payments, Kashkari argued that proponents are quick to admit that these benefits are not intended for U.S. consumers. While he admitted adoption in emerging countries was increasing, he said the technology still faced technical challenges.
While stablecoin proponents promise instant transfers, he said, recipients still need to convert to local currency for everyday payments like buying groceries, which can be expensive.
Kashkari’s skepticism stands in stark contrast to the Trump administration, which has increasingly championed bitcoin and U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins as key strategic tools.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has argued that regulated stablecoins can expand the greenback’s dominance in global payments and strengthen its status as a global reserve currency, thereby strengthening the United States’ financial influence. President Trump also signed an executive order in March to create a strategic bitcoin reserve, for which Bessent was an advocate.
