Bitcoin Forum

Top German Banker Warns Cryptocurrencies Could Precipitate a Financial Crisis

A top German banker, Jens Weidmann, commented Wednesday that digital currencies like bitcoin could cause a financial catastrophe. The banker alluded to the idea digital currencies are unstable and prone to violent fluctuations on the market. Weidmann said for people to expect banks to adopt digital currencies so the average citizen begin to have faith in them.

A Business Insider article further suggested the banking system has a leg up on digital currencies, because they have the ability to print as much money as they want. In other words, they can avert a financial collapse by magically creating more liquidity.

The article quoted Weidmann, saying, “This is a feature which will become relevant especially in times of crisis – when there will be a strong incentive for money holders to switch bank deposits into the official digital currency simply at the push of a button.”

The article’s author also said the banker’s position was that when banks have their own digital currencies, they can use various features to protect the banks from going on bank runs. They could provide people with digital assets so they don’t start taking all their cash out of the bank. The article read:


Full article: https://news.bitcoin.com/top-banker-warns-cryptocurrencies-could-precipitate-a-financial-crisis/

wow, I don't even know where to start here. That's the most confabulated complex of lies, misdirection and mental gymnastics I've seen for a long time, trust a cocaine addled psychopathic banker to come up with such cordon bleu BS

I wonder if he knows that this is what we were going for in the first place.  8)

Read up on the history of the cypherpunks if you really want to know the origins of our little project.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypherpunk

If I have the choice between the medieval "doctor" who wants to bleed me and modern medicine, I'll take modern medicine. At least the medieval doctors had the excuse of lack of knowledge, Keynes and his fellow witch doctors have no excuse except to attempt to retain power by misleading and robbing people by inflating away their savings.

We choose the freedom that bitcoin brings and reject the authoritarian central bankers et al who just want to control the world for money and power.

He needs to wake up and look at the causes of financial crisises over the past 100+++ years - central power who thinks one person should decide for everyone. (And even if centralized, anti-liberty policies worked (which they don't) they should be rejected anyway because people have the right to be free.)

Interesting opinion, thanks for sharing. As for the financial crisis, here is some interesting info about it http://planetaryproject.com/global_problems/economic/  (http://planetaryproject.com/global_problems/economic/) , I could suggest it to read for everyone.

Yeah it's not like the faceless suits have ever precipitated a crash.

Well German bankers were recently warning people not to buy bitcoin, and it's gone up dramatically since then.

Of course they'll cause loads of FUD about cryptocurrencies.

It's just like using weed killer on your garden, and the weeds are trying to tell you "it won't work! no point wasting your time and resources getting rid of us now!".

Bankers trying to spread fear about cryptocurrency. Their motive could only to be ensure that regulatory framework takes out anything which could be unfavourable to them.
If they really fear cryptocurrencies could precipitate a crisis, they could begin by derisking their balance sheets and ensuring that they don't gamble with other people's money.

That guy must be representing the current view of the banking industry towards Bitcoin. Generally, the banking industry is afraid of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general because the current set-up can be disrupted and they don't want that to happen as things can be out of their own control. However, when Bitcoin can be growing strong and can already be in the mainstream, these banks can have no choice but to work with cryptocurrency or they can be left behind and since they are also motivated by profits they can even be riding the bandwagon happily.

Bitcoin is not perfect but for it to cause economic collapse or catastrophe...that claim can already be so outrageous. Back in 2008, I can still remember that big banks and financial institutions caused the near-collapse of the US economy. Bitcoin was not yet popular at that time.

I had this discussion with a German banker about 2 years ago and he told me Bitcoin was but a drop in the ocean to make any difference in the

global banking and financial system.. He called it a niche market. I told him that Bitcoin will grow very soon and it will spread like wildfire. He

laughed it off..  ;D ...These people are so arrogant it is not even funny anymore. Bitcoin will hit them like a brick, when it goes mainstream.  ;)

Nah, it's still a niche market for now.

The level of merchant adoption hasn't changed much since mid-2015, the only difference is that the niche has changed from people who think they're cool and controversial (us) to investors that think they're cool and controversial, which is what's making the price go up loads.  Most of this price rise is speculation about what Bitcoin could be used for in the future, not its current usage, so I'd rather laugh at him in 10-20 years when blockchain technology has developed enough to be particularly relevant.