Powell expresses optimism in banks serving crypto customers

Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell is expressing confidence that banks can effectively serve crypto customers..Powell's comments followed the Federal Open Market Committee's Jan. 28-29 meeting. Powell's comments were his most positive toward the crypto sector since he became Fed chair in 2018. "We think banks are perfectly able to serve crypto customers as long as they understand and can manage the risks and as long as it is safe and sound," he said.."We are not against innovation and we certainly don't want to take actions that would cause banks to terminate customers who are perfectly legal just because of excess risk aversion, maybe related to regulation and supervision," Powell added. He said it would be helpful if a greater regulatory system were in place to oversee cryptocurrencies. .President Donald Trump has also expressed positive sentiments toward crypto, and even launched his own memecoin shortly before taking office. One billion coins were initially created, with 80 percent continuing to be held by two Trump-related firms. The rest were publicly released in an initial coin offering earlier this month. .Shortly after taking office, Trump, fulfilling a campaign promise, ordered the formation of a crypto working group to propose new digital asset rules and explore creating a national cryptocurrency reserve.