Central banks could create cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin
Cryptocurrency Bitcoin could revolutionise the way Britons pay for goods and services, in much the same way as the internet shook up access to information, the Bank of England has said.
Bitcoin “potentially combined with mobile technology, may reshape the mechanisms for making secure payments”, the Bank said.
The Bank could itself create digital currencies, making the new system available as it does with banknotes today.
Research would be necessary to develop the technology “without compromising a central bank’s ability to control its currency and secure the system against systemic attack”, the Bank said.
Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s finance minister, added to the idea and has suggested that “the technology of Bitcoin, if suitably adapted, can be employed profitably in the Eurozone as a weapon against deflation”.