Donald Trump said on Thursday that Jay Powell was “one of the dumbest, and most destructive, people in Government”, before doubling down at the weekend when he added that the Federal Reserve chair was “a Total and Complete Moron!” Central bankers have rallied around the Fed. Banque de France governor François Villeroy de Galhau told the FT that Powell “shows admirably what an independent central banker should do: to tell the truth, and to ensure price and financial stability”.
Today, the Bank for International Settlements, the central bankers’ bank, has joined in the pushback against the US president with a detailed and highly critical analysis of stablecoins, Trump’s favourite monetary project. He signed an order in January seeking to promote the development and growth of stablecoins worldwide. And last week, the Senate overwhelmingly passed the Genius Act, which will regulate and legitimise stablecoin creation by private entities in the US. The BIS is unhappy.
Dumb and destructive
From the extremely cautious and conservative BIS, the criticism is fierce. Stablecoins will always perform poorly as a substitute for money, it said in a special chapter of its annual report published today.