Ethereum co-founder: Central Banks Are a Long Way From Digital Currency
The creator of Ethereum – the second largest blockchain network by market capitalization, Vitalik Buterin added that there is no need for worrying when it comes to competition from any central bank issuing a digital currency in the world.
In his eyes, the possibility of a rivalry for Bitcoin or Ethereum by fiat currencies that are presented in their digital versions by central banks and countries is of very low levels:
“If there is [such a launch] it will be a server and a bunch of marketing buzzwords to make it look like a blockchain,” Buterin said, suggesting central banks lack the ability to create a proper blockchain.
His outspoken comments are in keeping with Buterin’s reputation as an iconoclast—a reputation he reinforced by turning up to speak at the suit-and-tie Toronto event in a unicorn sweatshirt.
Buterin’s remarks come at a time when the popular of digital currency has exploded as an asset class: the value of Bitcoin and Ethereum have respectively increased about five-fold and thirty-fold in 2017, while the overall market for such currencies is worth well over $100 billion.
The gold-rush has coincided with the rally of interest in blockchain Tech, which right now is finding adaptation and being used by various industries – banks, retailers, diamond merchants as a method to record transactions.
Banks, in a global scale, like the Bank of Japan, or Canada – have started to experiment around the blockchain technology to create the digital form of their fiat traditional currencies which could represent a better way to transfer funds or manage their money supplies.
In the case of the United States, some predict the Federal Reserve will create a so-called “Fedcoin” as a digital asset, though a Fed official recently said there currently no plans to do so. Meanwhile, former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke on Monday lashed out at bitcoin, though he also praised blockchain technology.
If a surge of blockchain-based national currencies do arrive on the scene, it raises the question of whether digital assets like bitcoin or XRP (another popular crypto-currency) will still be used as a means for transferring funds across borders.
However, as the Ethereum founder explained – its all just theoretical discussion, concluding that bitcoin and ethereum will be dominant in the crypto-world for the foreseeable future.
Buterin spoke at a three-day event hosted by Ripple, the company behind the currency XRP, which also sells blockchain software to over a hundred banks.
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