Authorities must be prepared to act against the invasive spread of cryptocurrencies to protect consumers and investors, Bank for International Settlements (BIS) General Manager AgustÃn Carstens said.
In a lecture "Money in the digital age: what role for central banks?", Mr Carstens said that for money to keep its value, it must be backed by accountable institutions which enjoy public trust. Here, central banks are key.
"The meteoric rise of cryptocurrencies should not make us forget the important role central banks play as stewards of public trust," Mr Carstens said in the lecture in Frankfurt, organised by Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe (SAFE), the Center for Financial Studies and the Deutsche Bundesbank. "Private digital tokens masquerading as currencies must not subvert this trust."
New technologies hold great promise, for example in making payment systems more efficient. But new currencies are not required for that promise to be realised. Authorities have a duty to
…