NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Even with bitcoin booming, White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn said he is waiting for a more mainstream digital-currency alternative before joining the crypto craze.

When asked in an interview whether he owns bitcoin or would buy it, Cohn gave a pat response of "no".

Financial regulators are grappling with how to oversee trading of digital currencies such as bitcoin, as futures contracts were recently introduced on the first major US exchanges.

While the currency is gaining traction with conventional investors, its unpredictable fluctuations still make it too risky a proposition for many.

Bitcoin was hovering around US$17,000 early on Wednesday.

"I believe we will have a digital currency in this country that will be widely accepted," Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs president, said in an interview with media company Axios on Wednesday in Washington.

That currency will have "less transaction costs, and people will have a much broader, deeper understanding of what it is and how it works".