Kashkari told audience members at a town hall in Wisconsin that “very few transactions are actually happening” in crypto, a video of the event hosted by the Chippewa Falls Area Chamber of Commerce shows.

Institutional adoption of crypto, however, has picked up in recent months, accelerated by the approval of spot bitcoin and ether ETFs in the U.S. earlier this year. Roughly 80% of institutional investors and wealth managers reported planning to increase their investments in digital assets in the coming months, according to a 2024 poll from Europe-based investment manager Nickel Digital.

“I think being this wrong should be illegal,” Castle Island Ventures partner Nic Carter said Monday on X, responding to Kashkari’s comments.