Bank of France governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau has said that Bitcoin is not a currency - and not even a cryptocurrency.

In remarks at a Beijing conference, Villeroy stressed the need for “clarity” on Bitcoin’s status, while introducing an unusual angle which so far has not surfaced as part of the mainstream narrative.

“We need to be clear: Bitcoin is in no way a currency or even a cryptocurrency,” he said quoted by Bank of France in various publications.

“It is a speculative asset. Its value and extreme volatility have no economic basis, and they are nobody’s responsibility.”

Repeating bearish warnings more common to central banks throughout the world over the past few years, Villeroy added that the Bank of France “reminds those investing in Bitcoin that they do so entirely at their own risk.”

The concept that Bitcoin is not a cryptocurrency stands out among the more unexpected utterances from famous economic sources this week.

Speaking to Bloomberg, that network’s CEO and Founder Michael R. Bloomberg even confused Bitcoin and Blockchain, coming out with a newly-coined term ‘Bitchain.’

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, also present at the interview, was on hand to correct him, before Bloomberg continued that his network basically was, in fact, a Blockchain.

“In fact, the Bloomberg system is a Blockchain; it’s just that instead of having the users control it, we control it,” he said.

“But it has all the attributes of that.”

Secret symbol № 21: Y What is this?