The Federal Reserve, by dual mandate, is concerned with inflation and unemployment levels. Currency innovation and competition falls under the inflation category. The Federal Reserve has an interest in understanding the mechanics of crypto coins in order to predict how it will affect the inflation and integrity of the US Dollar. I think it's simplistic to think the Federal Reserve is simply thinking Bitcoin is a curiosity. A main tool of the Federal reserve is buying/selling USD to keep the relative competitiveness. I will be interested in seeing if the Federal Reserve eventually employs a mechanism to counter cryptocurrency invasive ness to day to day payments to maintain USD integrity.
RE: Federal Reserve Bank sees big innovation in Bitcoin