Cryptocurrencies aren't 'currency', says RBA

The Reserve Bank of Australia has reiterated its attack on cryptocurrencies, questioning their purpose and pointing to the lack of demand from the finance industry.

Speaking in Sydney at the ASIC Annual Forum 2018, RBA assistant governor Michele Bullock said she “object[s] to the term ‘cryptocurrency’”.

“It isn’t currency. They’re not currencies. You can’t use them, typically, to make payments,” she said.

“They don’t store value, and they’re not a unit of account. The name’s a misnomer to begin with.”

Ms Bullock pointed out the fact that the RBA did already have electronic Australian dollars, called eAUD or ‘exchange settlement accounts’, but that this was restricted to banks needing to settle payments with each other.

Furthermore, these electronic dollars were not located on DLT or blockchain technology, she added, demonstrating that “you can separate cryptocurrencies from distributed ledgers and blockchains; they are not the same thing”.

“So we have a particular digital currency in Australia, which is exchange settlement accounts. The question is, should we expand it out into retail use?” she said.

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Source: Cryptocurrencies aren’t ‘currency’, says RBA – InvestorDaily