Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh (케빈 워시) said the Fed would not step in with bailouts even if the cryptocurrency industry falls into crisis. Bitcoin Magazine reported on Wednesday that Warsh made the remarks at a semiannual monetary policy hearing of the House Financial Services Committee on Monday.

The questions were asked by Representative Brad Sherman, a leading cryptocurrency critic. Sherman asked whether the Fed could serve as a backstop for digital asset firms, as it supported money market funds during the 2008 financial crisis. Warsh drew a line, saying he does not want to step in to bail out anyone, including cryptocurrencies.

Warsh cited his experience during the 2008 financial crisis as the backdrop to his stance. He served as a Fed governor under former Chair Ben Bernanke and took part in designing bailout measures. He said the measures increased moral hazard and he does not want to repeat the same thing.

He did not, however, say he would never intervene under any circumstances. He said he could act over the next 4 years to limit extraordinary risks. He said he would not prop up individual companies, but left open the possibility of intervention in a systemwide crisis.

The comments came ahead of a deadline to draw up implementation rules for the stablecoin law known as the Genius Act. The implementation rules for the law enacted in 2025 must be prepared by Saturday. Warsh said the Fed is rushing to put forward proposed rules by the deadline. The law gives stablecoin holders priority over other creditors if an issuer goes bankrupt and requires full reserves for each coin.

Concerns were also raised that with the stablecoin market worth about $310 billion, trouble at one issuer could spread across the industry. Warsh urged regulators the next day at the Senate Banking Committee to coordinate in the process of drafting rules under the Genius Act. He said the aim was to prevent regulatory arbitrage in which firms move to places with lax oversight. He also stressed the Fed's independence in monetary policy and said he would shrink the balance sheet of about $6.7 trillion.

Warsh said at a confirmation hearing that bitcoin is not an alternative to the U.S. dollar. He has also used the bitcoin price as an indicator to gauge whether monetary policy is appropriate.