5 takes on the Mark Carney “future of money” speech
Here’s what we made of the speech, and what it means for BABB.
Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, recently made a speech about the future of money, including how the regulatory landscape is taking shape for cryptocurrency.
The original speech is VERY long but you can watch it here.
We’ve dug into what he said to bring you these five takes…
“Crypto-assets”
Did you notice he insisted on referring to crypto as “crypto-assets” and not cryptocurrencies? Call it provocative, call it passive-aggressive, but that was no accidental slip of the tongue. It was a power move, for sure and may hint at the direction of future regulation.
The right man for the job?
We’ve heard a lot of musings from people who don’t want their revolution to be ruined by heavy-handed regulators who don’t understand what they’re dealing with.
We hear that.
But we think Carney’s speech shows that he’s not some out-of-touch fogey who’s scared of technology. We think he respects the tech and we predict that in five years time we’ll all be agreeing that he was right all along.
Crypto=/=blockchain
The Bank of England is, without a shadow of a doubt, pro-blockchain. They may be critical of cryptocurrencies’ ability to replace fiat, but they’re interested in the technology which makes them possible.
Take a look at this extract from the speech: “the underlying technologies are exciting. Whatever the merits of cryptocurrencies as money, authorities should be careful not to stifle innovations”
Or this one: “their core technology is already having an impact. Bringing crypto-assets into the regulatory tent could potentially catalyse innovations to serve the public better.”
CBDC
In the speech, Carney talks directly about CBDC (central bank digital currency) by name. Providing the means to support CBDCs on our platform is one of the most innovative elements of the BABB project. We’re aligned with the BoE in the way we’re considering opportunities and challenges associated with issuing and managing a CBDC.
He says: “To be truly transformative a general purpose CBDC would open access to individuals and firms. The Bank has an open mind about the eventual development of a CBDC and an active research programme dedicated to it.”
And, critically: “There are also broader societal questions (that others would need to answer) such as how society balances privacy rights with the extent to which the information in a CBDC could be used to fight terrorism and economic crime.”
Crypto is the future of money (kinda)
Marky reckons crypto is leading us towards the future of money:
“By suggesting how money and payments will need to adjust to meet societies’ changing preferences, particularly for decentralised peer-to-peer interactions”; and
“Through the possibilities their underlying technologies offer to transform the efficiency, reliability and flexibility of payments.”
What does it mean for BABB?
This speech has served to strengthen our conviction that regulation of crypto markets is inevitable but that the Bank understands the value of the technology . Ultimately we all (investors, companies and regulators) want the same thing; a mature, healthy and thriving crypto-economy.
It’s clear that the Bank is keen to use blockchain technology for innovation and change-making, and we support this. As a company open to co-operation with regulators, BABB will be at the forefront of this movement.
