There will never be a true crypto-euro or crypto-dollar

Short answer, there will never be a true crypto-euro or a crypto-dollar because depending on how we define the term cryptocurrency, they either already exist or they would be to volatile.
To clarify a bit, we must first understand what is blockchain and cryptocurrency. Blockchain is a protocol for synchronizing the contents of a database among a group of unknown users. If the users are known it becomes a simple distributed database or a federated system. This is also one of the reasons why there is no such thing as a private or permissioned blockchain but that is another story. As for cryptocurrency there is some misunderstanding as to what it is. Is it simply the idea of digital cash, so called “magic internet money” or something else?
If we define cryptocurrency simply as currency which exists digitally, which is how it is sometimes wrongly defined, then all of the world’s currency is already cryptocurrency, euro, dollar, yen… It is estimated that the world money supply is somewhere around 90 trillion USD and only about 8% of that exists as actual tangible money or coins. The rest of it is just numbers stored in a database. So, every time you swipe a credit or debit card you are using digital currency or “cryptocurrency”.
On the other hand, if we define cryptocurrency as currency which is issued without a central authority, utilizing the blockchain protocol for record keeping, well then that explains itself really. Can a central authority issue a currency which is defined as not being issued by central authority?Furthermore, how would that be any different to the digital currency in use today. Sure, we can discuss the idea of removing a few layers of abstraction and issuance of currency directly from the government or central bank to the end users, bypassing the commercial banks but that’s a whole other discussion and it does not change the fact that this thing already exists. Even if we entertain the idea that governments would surrender control over currencies to the free market, which is a horrible idea, and we end up with a true crypt-euro or crypto-dollar they would be terrible currencies.
One of the most important aspects of a currency is its stability. It has to facilitate the process of exchanging goods and services and be stable with only minor fluctuations. With hindsight we can now say that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have failed as currencies because they are too volatile. While Bitcoin has managed to solve the problem of double spending and in the process introduced the world to the blockchain protocol, a new problem has emerged of how to stabilize a digital currency without a central authority. One day someone might develop a solution for that as well but for now we can safely say that cryptocurrencies are not currencies. The most valuable aspect of the U.S. dollar is its stability and that is also one of the reasons why it is considered the world’s reserve currency.
The words crypto, cryptocurrency, blockchain and smart contract are the current it words and they are being slapped on everything with no regards in order to make concepts and ideas look more appealing to investors or policy makers. But it is important to note that much in the same way how computer companies in the 70s loved the idea of Internet and its use of packet switching only if it behaved and worked exactly as circuit switching, today, policy makers love the idea of a decentralized currency as long as it is setup and functions exactly like a centralized currency. This utilization of the terms cryptocurrency and blockchain to describe digitization of traditional monetary systems is at best uninformed and at worst intentionally misleading.
