[2017-12-28] EU Central Banker: “Stop Calling the Bitcoin a Coin”

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European Union central bankers are becoming increasingly vocal on the subject of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin. Its precipitous price increase this year seems to coincide with wide-ranging statements, including the digital asset’s threat or lack thereof. Recently, the governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) explained that more people should be warned about the decentralized currency and how it isn’t a currency at all.

Jan is Not a Bitcoin Fan
“We have to embrace the innovations and the efficiency gains that this can generate for the payment system,” NBB governor Jan Smets explained when asked about the possibility of a state-backed crypto for the Union. His answer came after a barrage of disparaging comments regarding cryptocurrencies’ market leader.

The NBB is Belgium’s central bank and part of the of the Eurosystem which comprise members of the European Central Bank. Mr. Smets, 66, has been its governor since 2015 after serving under two prime ministers as a cabinet chief. In addition to his NBB duties he participates in a dozen boards, academic and financial. 

Quoted in De Vrije Markt, Mr. Smets explains, “We need to warn people about the bitcoin, and people who invest in bitcoins can lose a lot.” With its being woven into new financial products, the digital currency could potentially be catastrophic for wider economies due to its volatile nature.  “Even if the risks are small at the moment,” Mr. Smets acknowledges.

Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/eu-central-banker-stop-calling-the-bitcoin-a-coin/

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[Carlton Banks]

Uh-oh, here comes the thought police lol


This ECB crony is suffering the same delusion that many do, it's embarrassing that so-called authority figures can speak such nonsense, and no-one else in a responsible public role contradicts them.

Money is conceptually very much tinged with psychology. One can use any object as a common medium of exchange, history demonstrates this amply.

Either this Smets character believes in his own institution's BS too deeply to accept this fact, or he understands the psychology at play and is attempting to manipulate the way that the public perceive Bitcoin's value as a type of money. He's either a useful idiot for the central bankster monopoly, or a highly machiavellian piece of work.

[davis196]

They need to warn the people about bitcoin...This makes me laugh.
99,99% of the bitcoin investors and btc users KNOW that bitcoin is highly volatile and very risky investment.
They don`t have any problems with taking the risk and investing in btc.There`s no need for this jerk to warn them.And we will continue to call bitcoin a COIN.Nobody can forbid us to do so.

[HollywoodCoins]

All this is very similar to another attempt to misinform the population and turn it back face to fiat, and go out of Bitcoin)))
It is useless to warn stupid depositors about any instability of any currency, they just as well can lose everything on other ill-considered investments. Those who study the crypta carefully and competently remain all the same in profit.
By the way, in many countries the state fiat currency is even less stable than bitcoin. There are still such concepts as inflation, denomination and so on .... So the speech of Mr. Jan Smets seems to me a provocation!

[1Referee]

If you guys stop calling Bitcoin a bubble or a fraud, I'll stop calling it a coin, which is something that will never happen I guess. It's beyond me that these idiotic banksters still lack the actual understanding of what Bitcoin is really about. In most cases there is a saying -> If you don't know what you're talking about, then don't talk. It's pretty simple, but yet a very effective saying. I am all in for a well harmonized existence of Bitcoin and banks, but in these cases I wouldn't mind seeing them dry out completely. Another funny thing is that banks advice people to not get involved in Bitcoin, and if they do anyway, and they lose out, that they will be responsible for their own actions. LOL. If banks mess up on the financial markets, they make the tax payers pay for the mess they created, the hypocrites.

[Kemarit]

Oh well, here we go again. LOL. Bitcoin are really in for a big fight. However, bitcoin will not back down from this so called people who all know everything about bitcoin. Now, they found a new argument to discredit bitcoin. But the more they open their mouths to attack, the more people are going into bitcoin, how ironic.

“We need to warn people about the bitcoin, and people who invest in bitcoins can lose a lot.” With its being woven into new financial products, the digital currency could potentially be catastrophic for wider economies due to its volatile nature.  “Even if the risks are small at the moment,” Mr. Smets acknowledges.

Sorry but everyone who is only the bitcoin already know that it's really based on speculation. But it their money, they can do whatever they want and investing in bitcoin is beyond their control. And all markets are volatile, including Gold, so I can't really understand how this bankers are really attacking bitcoin because of its nature. In every investment their is a risk, if you are not risk taker, of course you can go and invest your money in other platform that their's less risk. But its the volatility that we love about bitcoin and the risk that we took.

[darkangel11]

Another old timer who proves himself to be intellectually incapable of understanding some pretty easy and well established terms. For instance
Let’s stop calling the bitcoin a coin. Unlike the euro, the bitcoin is not guaranteed by a central bank or government as a means of payment, so the bitcoin is not a currency
Does that mean that we should stop using the word coin with old currencies that come from countries that no longer exist? Ancient roman coins are not coins, because they aren't backed by a government and issued by a central bank 

[iamTom123]

Uh-oh, here comes the thought police lol. This ECB crony is suffering the same delusion that many do, it's embarrassing that so-called authority figures can speak such nonsense, and no-one else in a responsible public role contradicts them.
Money is conceptually very much tinged with psychology. One can use any object as a common medium of exchange, history demonstrates this amply. Either this Smets character believes in his own institution's BS too deeply to accept this fact, or he understands the psychology at play and is attempting to manipulate the way that the public perceive Bitcoin's value as a type of money. He's either a useful idiot for the central bankster monopoly, or a highly machiavellian piece of work.

I am sure deep inside the man believe that whatever form of money that does not come from them will always be bogus and not worth exploring with. While i understand all of these warnings about how we might lose a lot of money with Bitcoin, the warning should also be pointed to the very institution he is heading. This is indeed quite ironic. We should be warned that Central Banks are not anymore working for the benefits of the people but themselves. I am sure that history will proved how fatal had been our common belief that bureaucrats will always be there for us.