Everscale Partner
Why did the Central Bank seriously think about creating their own cryptocurrencies?
More recently, the central banks of many countries did not perceive cryptocurrencies as something global, which should be paid attention to, and now the situation has changed dramatically. The industry was very much influenced by Facebook’s intentions to release Libra – its own cryptocurrency, which many countries perceive as a threat to existing currency regimes. The central banks of China, Sweden, the Bahamas and other countries are conducting experiments in this area, and some of them say that their coins will be issued soon. A number of others, including the US Federal Reserve, are still being watched from the outside.
On the horizon is the prospect of getting a coin suitable for day-to-day transactions into the hands of a two billionth Facebook user base. As soon as Libra joins stablecoins, it will become a reality.
What should a coin issued by the Central Bank look like? Of course, more on Libra than on Bitcoin. After all, BTC was created with the belief in the superiority of the financial system beyond the control of the Central Bank.
However, central banks from Saudi Arabia to Thailand intend to use the same technology developed to support bitcoins. But instead of shaping them to promote anonymity, banks intend to use the blockchain in such a way as to provide supervision.
Some of the islands in the eastern Caribbean, including Grenada and St. Kitts and Nevis, which have a common bank, have already launched their own digital currency, which is currently being verified by consumers and merchants. The first major central bank to deploy this on a large scale is likely to be the People’s Bank of China. After five years of studying this topic, in August, China announced that its digital currency is “close to exit.”
Bank of Sweden is studying electronic crown. Uruguay has implemented a pilot program called e-Peso, the South African Reserve Bank. is exploring the possibility of creating a digital currency, and the Swiss National Bank is working with the SIX stock exchange to figure out how to make the central bank’s digital money available for trading and settlement among financial market participants.
Meanwhile, Fed Chairman Jay Powell said that while the Federal Reserve is “closely following” developments in digital currencies, “this is not what we are actively considering,” and “it raises the significant, important issues that we want carefully decide ”regarding cybersecurity and the availability of demand for such a currency.
The Bank of Japan and the Central Bank of Russia also said they did not plan to begin work on developing their own cryptocurrency. And the President of the Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, said in October that “he does not see the immediate demand for digital money from the central bank.”
