Adrian Orr, the governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, doesn't appear to be a fan of independent digital currencies — including bitcoin and stablecoins.

Bitcoin is not, according to Orr, a medium of exchange, store of value, or unit of account, "yet people try to use it as that," he told a parliamentary committee on Monday. "It's got other purposes, but it is not at all a substitute for, not even a complement to, central bank money," he said.

Orr also seems critical of stablecoins, saying they are "the biggest misnomers such as hedge funds" and "oxymorons."

"Stablecoins are not stable," he said. "They're only as good as the balance sheet of the person offering that stablecoin."

Orr commented on bitcoin and stablecoins in response to a question about whether central banks …