A few Christmases ago, I was walking around a shopping centre, spotted Mark Carney, thought I might say "Alright, Governor!", in jest, but I saw his security nearby and never did...
The Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has shared his thoughts on cryptocurrency. As expected, for those of us in the community, his words aim to be sobering to those who are on the outside-looking-in, wanting to open the door and have a closer look at Bitcoin et alts (see what I did there)
According to Business Insider UK and The Guardian, the Bank of England warned that cryptocurrencies are inherently risky, failing to function as money; citing the erratic peaks and troughs over the past year. The central bank also pointed to criminals using the crypto to wash and dry their illicit gains, as a possible grounds for them to step in somehow.
What I find most interesting about the Bank of England's stance is, as much as they poo-poo crypto, they wish to be paternalistic; offering a solution to their concerns about anonymity, scams, wallet theft and bitcoin + alts being a bubble. The solution? Regulation of course.
Here's the kicker
Carney said that cryptos “do not appear to pose material risks to financial stability” and that they would "continue to study the use of distributed ledger technology which underlies cryptocurrencies".
Of course, if it's not 'real money' it wouldn't pose a risk to financial stability, if it was that means it would. Plus "...continue to study the use of distributed ledger technology which underlies cryptocurrencies..." means that they've been hip to this for a while and are probably downplaying the significance of crypto
