The US Federal Reserve systems that allow financial institutions to send and receive money went down for several hours on Wednesday, just 24-hours after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen criticised bitcoin’s supposed inefficiency.

'Bitcoin Sign Guy' photobombs then-US Fed Reserve Chair in 2017 during a congressional hearing
‘Bitcoin Sign Guy’ photobombs then-US Fed Reserve Chair in 2017 during a congressional hearing

The “operational error,” as the Fed described it, impacted all FED services, including its automated clearinghouse system which connects depository and related institutions sending credit and debt transfers.

The glitch also impacted payment deadlines and occurred just as FED Chairman Jerome Powell spoke to to Capitol Hill Legislators, outlining that it will be “an important year” to develop the “digital dollar“.


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Yellen Criticises Bitcoin

It is a bit amusing that Yellen singled out Bitcoin’s efficiency a day before the FED systems went down. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen  doubled down on a misguided critique against bitcoin, saying: “It’s an extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions, and the amount of energy that’s consumed in processing those transactions is staggering.”


Read More: History in the making: Bitcoin Hits $50,000


Bitcoin is Never Down

I’m not sure how many of you have ever tried to send an international wire before, but as someone who’s quite familiar with it, I can tell you that sending bitcoin is a walk in the park in comparison. It’s faster, cheaper, more user-friendly and the best part is – the bitcoin network is never down.

While every centralised computer system goes down from time to time, even Amazon, Google or any such company, bitcoin does not go down.


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