[2017-10-30]Economist: Central bank-issued digital currency is the future

[iamTom123]

Central bank-issued digital currency is the future, not cryptocurrency, economist says. Digital currencies issued by central banks will make transactions more efficient, economist Barry Eichengreen told CNBC. But he said cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether serve as "a vehicle for money laundering, tax evasion and the like."

Digital currencies issued by central banks will make transactions more efficient while cryptocurrencies serve as a vehicle for illicit activity, economist Barry Eichengreen told CNBC Monday. Asked whether he thought cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether would play a major role in the economy, he said: "Not really."

"I think there is a role for central bank-issued digital currencies which are a very different thing than crypto, anonymous currencies," he said. "The first alternative central bank digital currencies will make transactions more efficient. The second one is a vehicle for money laundering, tax evasion and the like." Cryptocurrencies have come under fire from a number of economists, regulators and banking executives in recent weeks.

This is taken from https://www.cnbc.com.

Aside from the comments of Mr. Jamie Dimon and some other CEOs criticizing Bitcoin as just fraud and bubble, this interview of an old man named Barry Eichengreen (am not sure if he is a respected economist because I never took the time to research more about him), is one of the few that really made me laugh hard.

I am now really convinced that we have to just give people like Barry a big smile whenever we hear about him because for all intents and purposes he failed -- miserably failed at that -- to even have a simple understanding why we have Bitcoin in the first place.

One thing for sure many economists especially the old ones have never took the time to research more and understand Bitcoin in its totality...these people are speaking according to their own experience and their own worlds rooted in the past. Nothing wrong with learning the mistakes of the past but those should never hinder us to create a better platform and a better future.

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[Draketom]

They can continue to criticize bitcoin as they like. But am very sure bitcoin has come to stay. No one can change that.

[Carlton Banks]

Seriously, ROFL

1. Someone needs to wake this dinosaur economist up: it's 2017, central bank currencies have been digital since the 1980's

2. Money laundering and tax evasion went the same way as copyright: non-concepts. There's no such thing as copyright anymore, it's been meaningless for a long time.

Bitcoin did the same to money laundering and tax evasion that p2p filesharing did to copyright, there's just no point in pretending un-workable ideas still work.

If people need to target anti-social or immoral behaviour, they need to come up with a better idea. If people running government-owned monopoly service providers can't raise money through violently threatened theft (i.e. taxes), they need to come up with a better idea to do it.

[Marry Finch]

Economists and bankers, if possible, will always criticize the decentralized crypto currency because it takes away a significant part of the profits from them, reducing the number of their clients. If they have nothing to say, they start old topics about the possibility of using crypto currency for criminal purposes. However, almost everything can be used for criminal purposes. This does not mean that it must be banned.

[Qartersa]

This article seemed to have distinguished digital currencies from cryptocurrencies which makes it a little interesting. Well yes, I agree on the differentiation because both can really pertain to different matters. Digital currencies can be controlled and regulated by governments in partnership with central banks while cryptocurrencies are hard put because of its cryptic (anonymous) nature. That is why it has been said here that the latter can be used as a vehicle for illicit/illegal affairs, it being decentralized.

I think the article bends over what is realistic, and because of that, it will be helpful for investors to dig deeper and consider what the future will be based on this.     

[KwizatzHaderach]

Interviewed is still living in the past. Centralized systems are prone to power abuse (see GFC) of those who are trusted.

Decentralized currencies are the future and will usher better wealth distribution and opportunities to all people.
Proper regulation of the governments should be applied to further strengthen it.