Cryptocurrencies

Central Banks Can’t Ignore the Cryptocurrency Boom

  • Digital coins challenge the guardians of official money
  • Central banks are being urged to heighten their oversight

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The boom in cryptocurrencies and their underlying technology is becoming too big for central banks, long the guardian of official money, to ignore.

Until recently, officials at major central banks were happy to watch as pioneers in the field progressed by trial and error, safe in the knowledge that it was dwarfed by roughly $5 trillion circulating daily in conventional currency markets. But now as officials turn an eye toward the increasingly pervasive technology, the risk is that they’re reacting too late to both the pitfalls and the opportunities presented by digital coinage.