China's decision to depreciate the yuan was presented (albeit surprisingly) to the world as a way to bolster a recently floundering economy, but Art Cashin said Wednesday that Wall Street remains concerned for two reasons.
"What's scary here is that people are beginning to doubt the sophistication of the Chinese officials," the director of floor operations at UBS said in a CNBC "Squawk on the Street."
"Whether they are adept enough and clever enough to know where to move; they didn't look very adept when they were trying to save their stock market, and they're in an area where it can be a little dangerous," Cashin added.
Global investment markets continued to sell off after China devalued its currency for a second-straight day. All three major U.S. stock indexes shed over 1 percent, while the German DAX and the French CAX 40 both dropped over 3 percent on Wednesday.
Another reason why the Street remains concerned involves the International Monetary Fund, Cashin said.
"There's a secondary concern here that says that, all they're trying to do is … get the IMF to approve them as a reserve currency."
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The IMF said in a statement that the People's Bank of China's decision to depreciate the yuan "appears a welcome step as it should allow market forces to have a greater role in determining the exchange rate."
Nevertheless, it added that "the announced change has no direct implications for the criteria used in determining the composition of the [IMF's SDR basket]."
Mike Moran, a strategist at Standard Chartered Bank, said in another Wednesday interview that, while concerns about China's situation are legitimate, they are being overblown.
"In the next few days, I think the market will calm down." Moran said. "The amounts that we're talking about, in terms of a CNY depreciation over the next couple of weeks … will seem quite small."
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The yuan traded around 1 percent lower against the dollar in afternoon U.S. trade and down over 2 percent against the euro.