Altcoin News: Swiss National Bank President Fears Stablecoins
September 9, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE
According to Thomas Jordan, President of the Swiss National Bank of Switzerland (SNB), stablecoins can violate Swiss monetary policy in certain circumstances.
At a speech at the University of Basel, Jordan emphasized that the use of cryptocurrencies as a payment instrument or means of accumulation is very limited due to the volatility of these assets.
“Crypto tokens are more like speculative investment instruments than ‘good’ money in terms of their characteristics. Users typically describe money as ‘good’ if it has a stable value over time, is broadly accepted, and enables efficient payments. Given these parameters, it seems unlikely that crypto tokens will be widely used as money in Switzerland,” said the president of SNB.
At the same time, he emphasized that stablecoins tied to foreign currencies could undermine the monetary policy of Switzerland. Of course, only if they will be massively accepted in stores, and companies will make payments in such cryptocurrencies.
According to Jordan, the cryptocurrency secured by the Swiss franc will not particularly affect the monetary policy of the Central Bank of Switzerland. But if such a cryptocurrency is issued by the Central Bank of the country, then this will put Switzerland’s entire financial stability at risk.
Note that the Swiss regulator recently issued banking and securities trading licenses to two blockchain companies — SEBA Crypto and Sygnum. This is the first such case for companies working exclusively in the field of blockchain.
Author: Marko Vidrih
