Digital currencies like bitcoin but issued by central banks could make commercial banks safer but damage their ability to lend money, according to Bank of England Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent.
Speaking at the London School of Economics, Broadbent said that if all a central bank digital currency did was offer a substitute for paper currency, it’s not clear the macroeconomic effects would be that substantial.
Even then, however, you would expect to see some drain from commercial banks, said Broadbent, adding that this drain would be greater the more closely a central bank digital currency resembled a genuine bank account.
Notably, flows into central bank digital currencies, and out of commercial banks, would pick up at times whenever people were concerned about the strength of the financial system. Any such shift towards a relatively widely accessible central bank digital currency would therefore have two important implications, he said.
https://news.markets/banking/bitcoin-damage-bank-lending-boe-deputy-12019/
