REUTERS
Federal Reserve Chairman
Regan got right to the point: "Is Bitcoin a bubble?" Regan asked.
"I guess so," Greenspan said, adding, "You really have to stretch your imagination to infer what the intrinsic value of Bitcoin is. I haven't been able to do it. But if you ask me, 'Is this a bubble in Bitcoin?' 'Yeah, it's a bubble."
People are baffled by this remark.
That's because Greenspan refused to call the housing bubble a bubble, and presided over the dot-com bubble despite seemingly having recognized it as such as far back as 1996, when he made his "irrational exuberance" speech.
Here's a smattering of the reaction from Twitter:
He would know. RT @trish_regan: Alan Greespan on #bitcoin "I guess it's a bubble". link here: http://t.co/Mx9YEzAkKa pic.twitter.com/kh8wlahyGF
- Peter Ghostine (@PeterGhostine) December 4, 2013
GREENSPAN CALLS BITCOIN A BUBBLE ASSURING ITS RISE TO $10,000
- Timothy Connolly CFA (@SconsetCapital) December 4, 2013
I would MUCH RATHER hear Greenspan call Bitcoin a bubble than not. He's never recognized a REAL BUBBLE of his own making (Y2K, housing, etc)
- Cody Willard (@codywillard) December 4, 2013
Funny, I think RT @zerohedge: GREENSPAN SAYS OF BITCOIN: `IT'S A BUBBLE'. sigh
- Brian Posner (@FrontOfTheHerd) December 4, 2013
Oy vey! Greenspan talks bitcoins, bubbles and bloomberg! (fine alliteration) http://t.co/pTXBr67B15 VT6fx8yBTOOQIAFlrraqDQ.html
- Douglas Kass (@DougKass) December 4, 2013
Maybe Greenspan got religion since stepping down from the Fed in 2006. But of all the things to now call a bubble, when the evidence is mounting that it's not necessarily so: Bitcoin?