This assertion was made by Winters during a conference call at Standard Chartered’s Innovation and Digitisation Event. He said that non-fiat currencies, primarily digital assets, could be used as a hedge against inflation. He stated that his belief was based on unsavory inflationary periods and fallible central bank monetary policies. Winter says:
“Broadly speaking, we’ve experienced a long period with low inflation and central banks are experimenting in new territory with very loose monetary policies. People may want an alternative to fiat currencies.
Winter’s comments
Winter’s comments are similar to those of Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan CEO, but they oppose the sentiment. Dimon , a JPMorgan executive, had just called Bitcoin “worthless” a few days prior. This is despite his long history as a vocal critic for digital currencies. Dimon also insists that crypto investments are only offered by his bank out of necessity and popular demand.
Although crypto is starting to be accepted more mainstream in institutional finance, it still has not been regulated.