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Many Bitcoin supporters hope that the virtual currency will one day transform the payments system by enabling the nearly instantaneous transfer of value across the globe.

But Kenneth I. Chenault, the chief executive of American Express, isn’t quite ready to give in to digital money.

“The reality is, we compete with any form of payments” Mr. Chenault said on Thursday at the DealBook conference in Manhattan.”Everyone focuses on the displacement of Bitcoin and the credit card industry.”

But, he added, “there’s a reason credit cards were invented.” In particular, he said, people want the ability to defer payments.

The Bitcoin industry has taken aim at the relatively high transaction fees that credit card companies charge merchants. Virtual currency supporters argue that Bitcoin would allow these businesses to save money, which they could then pass on to their customers. On the other hand, opponents argue that credit cards, unlike Bitcoin, offer more protection against fraud.

Though some of Mr. Chenault’s peers have been far more skeptical of Bitcoin, his argument is another indication that the traditional banking industry has yet to fully embrace digital currency.

In an interview on CNBC in January, for instance, Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, called Bitcoin “a terrible store of value” that could be “replicated over and over.”

Still, Mr. Chenault said he saw promise in Bitcoin’s underlying technology. “The protocol of Bitcoin is going to be important,” he said. Alternative currencies, he added, are like the music service Napster, and later iTunes, with their potential to drive industry change.

“I don’t know how this is going to evolve,” Mr. Chenault said about new forms of money and the payments system. “I think there’s room for a lot of players.”