Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), has indicated that his institution does not have the authority to regulate crypto-coins.
Making his remarks to the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Draghi said that "it will not really be in our power to ban and regulate" bitcoin and other digital currencies.
The comments came in response to a question from the committee about whether the ECB intends to issue a regulatory framework or a total ban on Crypto-coins and whether Draghi felt that higher capital requirements for fintechs were needed to protect the banking sector.
Draghi revealed that the ECB has not yet discussed the potential impact of crypto-coins, but likely areas of analysis include the risk represented by them because of their scale, use and economic impact.
"We have to ask what are the effects of crypto-coins in the economy," Draghi said, adding that they are still too immature to be considered a viable payment method.
The primary concern for the ECB in crypto-coins and in digital innovation in general is cyber security, he said, stressing that cyber-risk protection is central to the ECB's agenda.
Earlier this month, Draghi also criticized the initiative proposed by Estonia's e-Residency project to launch a national cryptography called "estcoin," stating,
"I will comment on the Estonian decision: no member state can introduce its own currency. The Eurozone currency is the euro. "
Draghi is not the only senior ECB official to comment on crypto coins in recent days.
Central bank vice president Vitor Constancio made headlines last week when he said that crypto-coins were a purely speculative commodity and compared them to the "tulip craze." Constancio said the ECB does not see technology as a "threat to central bank policy".
setembro 26, 2017
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